


No Light of Dawn

by autumn_daisies



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: Alchemy, Catholic School, Forbidden Romance, How Do I Tag, Kinda, M/M, Magic, Magic School, Non-Graphic Violence, Religious Imagery & Symbolism, Resurrection, Rituals, Satanism, Witch Trials AU, Witches, but none is permanent, cool stuff like that, dying, modern witches, summonings
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-15
Updated: 2019-06-17
Packaged: 2020-03-05 18:17:15
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 39,787
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18834100
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/autumn_daisies/pseuds/autumn_daisies
Summary: Something is going on at St. Marjorie's Private Catholic School, but Zhong Chenle attends The Huang Academy for the Magical Arts right across the street, so, outside of his friends being accused of causing their problems, it doesn't matter much to him personally.But it does matter.Alternatively titled: The Salem Witch Trials Aren't Behind Us Now





	1. An Accusation

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome back, everyone! It's hardly been any time at all, huh? Just a warning, this fic is not very religion-friendly if that's something that's important to you. Mostly, this doesn't discuss anything that could be considered a real life event, so it isn't too controversial. Keep that in mind and enjoy!

_ The light of a lamp will never shine in you again. The voice of bridegroom and bride will never be heard in you again. Your merchants were the world's most important people. By your magic spell, all the nation's were led astray. (Revelation 18:23) _

 

  The Salem witch trials have long been lost to history, but never lost in the minds of those involved. It was no secret that those persecuted weren't even witches, not a one of them, but the sentiment remained the same. The tensions between those who abided strictly by the faith they were taught and the witches who denounced it remained strong. There was less murder, clearly, but just as much malicious intent.

  It was even seen on the streets of a quiet Jeju Island, South Korea, but most specifically on one street. On one side sat a tall, proud, light-gray building, a cross above its massive spruce doors and grand staircase. The stone engraving above the entrance, below the stained glass that dominated the front of the structure, read  _ St. Marjorie's Private Catholic School.  _

  However, directly across the street, less than a ten second walk away, stood a reddish brick building with arched Victorian windows and pointed ceilings, strangely colored plants decorating the bright grass around it. There was a proud, glowing message on a piece of stone beside the entrance.  _ The Huang Academy for the Magical Arts. _

  Neither was much to be suspicious of without further thought, and it was even less so when there wasn't a handful of students standing on either side of the street, waving their fists and yelling at each other with Bibles and spellbooks pressed close to their respective chests.

  One boy with dark brown hair, rosary clenched in his fist, seemed to be particularly offended. "You killed my cat!" he shrieked.

  Now, that's a new one.

  "Me?" another black-haired one, across the street, responded, almost as offended as the first. "Why would I do that?"

  Another boy with golden skin and sun-bleached hair stepped up, whipping a scroll out of the pocket of his black cape (which he only wore when it was time to scare the Catholic kids). "What, you want your cat back?"

  "Donghyuck-" the black-haired boy said, holding out a hand half-heartedly, knowing there was no stopping him.

  Donghyuck muttered something, eyes scanning the parchment, before he reached to the side and the floor seemed to open up into a pit so dark it seemed flat. There was a peculiar suction noise and a distinct yowl.

  A dark gray tabby cat emerged from the void, flying up into Donghyuck's one-handed grasp. The dark-haired boy across the street almost looked hopeful before his face broke into disgust again. The cat had black fuzzy wings growing from its back and its fur was singed in places - clearly dead, but not as horrible looking as one would expect.

  "Look, Jaemin!" Donghyuck teased him, holding up the cat, smile wide. The black-haired boy beside him sneezed. "Sorry, Jeno, forgot you're allergic."

  Jaemin shrieked, unfreezing, and clambered back up the stairs into the Catholic school. One of his friends threw the book in his grasp across the street as hard as he could before following. "You'll… you'll burn!" the book-throwing friend proclaimed, pointing a shaking finger. "All of you!"

  The witches on the other side were silent before they all broke down in laughter.

  "As if Lucifer would ever let Chenle burn," Donghyuck joked, waving over at him.

  Jeno snorted as Donghyuck picked up the thrown book - a Bible, obviously - and tossed it back into the hole in the ground with the cat. With a wave of his hand, the ground covered the void as if it was never there. "Is that even his cat?" Jeno asked.

  "Probably not," Donghyuck retorted, making his way over to a spot underneath a large willow tree, minding the way the leaves would tend to wrap around an unsuspecting victim and trap them in a mildly uncomfortable hug for hours on end. It only had to happen once.

  Chenle watched as they returned to sit beside him. "They run off screaming again?"

  "Donghyuck summoned a  _ dead cat," _ Jeno enthused. "Wait until Renjun hears this."

   "It's not gonna take too long if you keep being all loud about it," Chenle pointed out.

  "Not at all."

  Chenle looked up to see Renjun, light brown hair swept across his forehead and feet not touching the ground as he moved to sit next to them. "You're lucky I didn't interrupt your dispute," he said to Donghyuck.

  "What would you do, give me a detention?"

  Renjun sighed. "You didn't technically hurt them, so I couldn't." His expression morphed into one of borderline mischief. "So, good work."

  Donghyuck laughed.

  Renjun glanced towards Chenle. "What are you working on, Chenle?"

  Chenle cursed, the sudden call of his name causing him to stab himself with his sewing needle. He held it up to Jeno. He muttered something about  _ didn't sell the Devil all my damn secrets for this _ , but still waved his hand in a practiced and particular motion. The blood instantly dissipated, the wound closing, and Chenle offered a toothy smile in response. "Why did you have to ask him for such a cute power, anyway?" Donghyuck asked, pouting. "It retracts from the edgy witch thing."

  "It's so you don't die doing your edgy witch things. And none of us," Jeno gestured to the four of them, "want to deal with resurrecting you if you get burnt at the stake."

  "You'd do it anyway," Donghyuck cooed.

  "Don't be so sure," Renjun said.

  Donghyuck rolled his eyes. "Anyway! Chenle! What are you doing?"

  "Making a voodoo doll!" he said proudly, holding up the bundle of green fabric. "Of Elizabeth."

  "...your lizard?" Jeno wondered aloud.

  "Yes. So I can pet her all the time," Chenle said defensively. "Is there a problem with that?"

  "How are you gonna convince Lucifer of that one?" Renjun asked.

  "I'm a magical alchemist," Chenle said with a shrug. "I don't need him for stuff like this."

  "Voodoo alchemy is so hard, though," Donghyuck complained.

  "And I'm a genius," Chenle replied, returning to his sewing.

  "Alchemy specialist," Renjun corrected.

  "We should go back inside," Jeno said, standing. "I can't be late for my Latin final."

  "That's today?" Donghyuck asked. Jeno nodded slowly. He made a loud sound of distaste and stood up.

  "Renjun," Chenle complained, drawing out the name.

  Renjun waved his hand, and Chenle felt a gust of wind pull him off the ground and to his feet. He smiled appreciatively. "What would you do without me?" Renjun asked.

  "Be less lazy."

  Donghyuck knocked carefully on the door, pressing the symbols on it like a keypad before he pushed it open, and the three of them followed him into the narrow spiral stairwell. It made Chenle dizzy with the black and white checkered tile that was covering the entire surface of the floor. Jeno and Donghyuck started up the stairwell, while Chenle made his way through a door on the side, short and oddly shaped so that he had to duck through it. He found himself in the common area, decorated with much more normal couches, chairs, and students. One of them, short, with curly dark brown hair and a gummy smile, nearly leaped out of his spot to approach Chenle. "There you are! I was waiting for you."

  Yangyang was Chenle's lab partner. He was older than him, but shorter, just as hyper, and, most importantly, had the same passion for magical alchemy. "Is that a voodoo doll?"

  "Yep! My final project. No malicious intent, obviously, or headmaster Kun would have my head," Chenle answered.

  "Damn, that's so much cooler than mine," Yangyang said, following Chenle down a narrow passage in the corner of the room. "I wanted to make a love potion, but Kun said no."

  Chenle laughed, tucking the half-finished doll back in his bag and opening a trapdoor in the floor at the end of the passage. He looked carefully into the endless void. "This never gets less scary," Chenle said with a sharp breath, leaning head first into the black.

  When Chenle blinked again, he was upside down in his rightful desk in the alchemy lab. It didn't look at all like how one would imagine a place like that, all dusty books and dark cellars. The lab was located in a skyscraper in Shanghai, set up through a vortex and teleportation project that the founder of the academy's son had set up for a final project. The room was large and clean, windows overlooking the city, and extremely different from most other classrooms at the school. It was furnished with shiny metal cauldrons and massive cupboards of ingredients, with a large space in the middle for necessary rituals or summonings. The desks, one of which Chenle was sitting in, were arranged so that two were beside each other in front of each cauldron. Chenle looked over, still hanging upside down out of his chair, at a very right-side up Yangyang. "How… did you do that?"

  "You can't go in upside down, Chenle," a smooth voice said. "It may be magic, but it isn't bulletproof." Chenle looked up at Headmaster Kun, smiling slightly before climbing out of his awkward position.

  "Noted, Headmaster."

  Kun made his way to his desk, just outside the massive free space, and rifled through a few pages before looking around at all the students.

  Headmaster Kun was the oldest member of the staff at Huang Academy, though it certainly didn't show. The students chalked it up to witchcraft, naturally, as they did most things. There were rumors he was actually older than the school itself. His hair was blonde, almost white, and his whole presence was wise despite his sometimes frantic actions.

  Chenle watched as other students fell gracelessly out of the ceiling into their respective seats. He smiled.

  Chenle had his own worries about using magic, clearly, and what that meant for the rest of his existence, but he knew he didn't want a life on Earth without it. Satan had done a lot for him, anyway, more than God had. Whenever he looked around Huang Academy, he felt warm and nice. He wondered how the Catholic students could believe such terrible things about them, but the book says what it says.

  "Okay, students," Kun said, glancing at the massive clock on the wall. "Welcome."

  They all nodded in acknowledgement.

  "If you recall correctly, I asked you to read the recipe for the misfortune potion, also known as the serum of comical bad luck. Today, we'll be brewing it."

  Yangyang pulled his alchemy book from his backpack and waved his hand over it, the pages turning to the recipe effortlessly. "You mastered page turning?" Chenle whispered, eyes widened in amazement.

  "You aren't good at slight wordless magic, are you?" Yangyang asked under his breath. Chenle shook his head. "We're going to have to work on it," Yangyang said.

  "If you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me," Kun finished. "Please wear gloves!"

  Chenle opened his book as well, flipping through it manually. "We have to peel… a toad?"

  "I can do it, you big baby," Yangyang said. "But you have to start blackening the eel's blood."

  Chenle took the vial from his hand and stuck his tongue out, reading the instructions again before pouring its contents into the cauldron. He carefully lit the fire below it with a verbal incantation and more mental effort than he'd like to admit. Yangyang smiled at him in appreciation as he fished a toad from a jar of a gelatinous liquid. Chenle fake-gagged.

  Yangyang rolled his eyes and brandished his scalpel over the counter, thankfully out of Chenle's view as he started removing the skin from the toad. Chenle busied himself with stirring the eel's blood, only clockwise, waiting until it very clearly shifted colors. "I need the toad… peel."

  "Skin," Yangyang corrected with a laugh, dropping it in carefully. The smell was horrid, like a swamp filled with vinegar, but Chenle stayed stirring it anyway, wrinkling his nose.

  "After a minute we have to add… a tear?" Yangyang read.

  Chenle sighed. "Headmaster?" he called.

  "No, I don't have tears for you. You're advanced enough to get them yourself."

  Yangyang looked around. "Uh, Chenle, can you… cry?"

  "I don't know!" he responded, frantically jumping from foot to foot. "We don't have a lot of time."

  Yangyang reached over to the cupboard, reaching out what Chenle recognized as an onion, harmless on the outside, but a collection of red streaks on one side of it signified what it was. "No, no," he objected.

  "I'm so sorry," Yangyang said, slamming his eyes shut as he ripped it apart with his hands.

  Within seconds, Chenle was leaning over the cauldron with tears streaming down his face from the horrific chemicals in it - much like an onion on Earth, but grown in Hell, so of  _ course  _ it was awful to be around. It burnt, like fire and acid and dust. He heard the sound of a void being opened, presumably by Kun, and Yangyang throwing the onion into it before rushing to wash his hands. "You okay?" Kun asked, clearly holding back a laugh.

  "Yeah," Chenle said, leaning back as the mixture started to boil as directed. "Just. It hurts." He squinted up at Kun.

  "Cry it off, it'll be okay. Genius move, Mr. Liu, but please try to find a different way to do it next time."

  Yangyang bowed to him before returning to pat Chenle on the back. "Now we let it boil."

  "How long?"

  "An hour."

  "We'll be here a while," Chenle said, sitting back in his desk.

 

»»---------------------►

 

  Chenle finally returned to the dorm building after they finished their potion, close to passing out given that he couldn't take his normal after-class nap. He walked into the dorm he shared with Jeno and Donghyuck, immediately flopped down on his mattress, and held up the bottle. "Hey, Hyuckie."

  The boy in question hummed.

  "I bet you won't drink this."

  "Is that a dare?" Donghyuck challenged, sitting up and rushing over to grab the vial from Chenle's weak grasp.

  "No, I was just making a statement," Chenle lied.

  Donghyuck ripped off the cork and chugged the liquid so fast Chenle could have mistaken it for apple juice if it wasn't thick and black, almost like watered-down tar, and it was clearly unpleasant going down Donghyuck's throat. He grimaced as he threw the empty bottle onto the soft mattress. "Ew, Chenle, what did you just make me drink?"

  There was a strange creaking noise from across the room, and Chenle turned to see the large window cracked open slightly, a pleasant evening breeze wafting through. Along with it, though, came a small rock, which nailed Donghyuck right in the center of the forehead.

  He fell dramatically off the bed before pointing at Chenle angrily. "That was misfortune!" he yelled.

  Chenle broke down in giggles, and Donghyuck laughed in a kind of offended tone, shoving his tongue into his cheek. "I will summon a whole bunch of angry raccoons into this dorm one day, just wait and see," he threatened, running a hand through his hair and making his way out of the room. He tripped over a conveniently (or inconveniently, depending on your perspective) placed spellbook, falling onto the hardwood floor.

  "Just wait until Renjunnie hears this," Chenle cheered, walking with him out of the room and out of the building.

  Renjun was sitting in the courtyard behind the building, on the benches outside the familiar crystal at the center of the space meant to capture moonlight at the perfect angle, conditions permitting. There were other upperclassmen with him, talking about something Chenle couldn't hear yet. Renjun tended to be either sucked up to due to his relation to the founder of the school or hated for his closeness with authority. However, Chenle could tell that the grown-out, fluffy blond hair belonged to none other than Kim Jungwoo. Chenle's partner in adorable shenanigans. His honorary older brother. He yelled happily as he approached him and hugged him tightly. "Ah, Chenle!"

  "Ah! Help!"

  Chenle separated to turn towards Donghyuck's frantic screams. There didn't seem to be anything there other than Donghyuck being dragged backwards. "Oh, dammit," Jungwoo cursed, running over and smacking the air. "Come on, Fluffles!"

  'Fluffles' materialized from nothing, revealing itself to be a massive lion-like creature with a tan body, white mane, black nose and eyes, its mouth closed around Donghyuck's pant leg and an innocent expression on its face. Chenle doesn't recognize the species, especially not with the powers of invisibility. "Jungwoo, what  _ is  _ that?" Donghyuck asked, pulling away, terrified.

  "I made him myself," Jungwoo said, tapping the animal's nose until it let go of Donghyuck. "Sort of magic genetic manipulation."

  "...and you let it be invisible?" Renjun asked, standing up.

  Jungwoo laughed, rubbing the back of neck. "That's was actually an accident."

  "Does he usually attack people?" Donghyuck asked.

  "No, you must just be unlucky."

  Chenle snorted.

  Donghyuck glared at him.

  Jungwoo looked between them, confused. "What… happened."

  "This little  _ brat _ gave me a  _ misfortune serum!" _

__ "I said you wouldn't drink it!"

  "But you made it!"

  "Calm, calm," Renjun interrupted. He looked up at the cloudy sky and thought for a second before sighing. "Jungwoo, you gotta control that thing."

  "He was magically provoked," Jungwoo defended, hugging Fluffles to his chest.

  "Chenle, don't feed people magical substances," Renjun said.

  Chenle held up a pinky to promise him and linked it with Renjun's, crossing his fingers behind his back. 

  "Couldn't you just fix this?" Donghyuck groaned. "You're, like, the most powerful witch in this whole place."

  "I accept the flattery, but I'm not doing that."

  "Why not?"

  "It's funny," Renjun snorted. Donghyuck's eyes went wide in disbelief and offense. Chenle snickered to himself.

  "I'm gonna go take care of this," Jungwoo said, gesturing to Fluffles and pulling him away.

  Renjun spared another glance towards the sky and the courtyard. "What's up?" Chenle asked.

  "I wanted to do a ritual, but the moon isn't out," he said disappointedly.

  "You aren't trying to curse me, too, are you?" Donghyuck asked suspiciously.

  Renjun snorted. "No."

  "Then what are you doing?" Chenle asked.

  "It's a secret," Renjun returned. "I don't even know if it'll work."

  "I hope it does," Chenle said. "Especially if you actually are trying to curse Hyuck."

  Donghyuck scowled.

  "I… I hope it works, too." There was some sort of unreadable, serious expression on Renjun's face as his eyes fell from the sky to the low brick wall surrounding the entire campus, and then to Chenle and Donghyuck. He smiled.

  "Let's go in?" Donghyuck asked. "I don't want to risk any more injuries before this wears off."

  They started back towards the dorm building, Donghyuck staring at all of the surroundings as if the grass insulted his mother or the trees started receiving Bible verses. Maybe he was right about that second one, but it wasn't the trees. Chenle could almost hear the yelling from across the street.

  Chenle could hear yelling from across the street.

  "What did you do to him?" he heard. "I know you're there!"

  Renjun worriedly levitated himself off the ground, floating out towards the sidewalk and leaving the other two to jog along beside him. As if the yelling of Christians could summon them, several other students were making their way to the designated yelling grounds. This time, it became quickly occupied by upperclassmen, and Chenle was perfectly happy to lag behind, standing just outside the blinding light from the lamppost.

  "You… you!"

  It was a familiar voice, with a thin Japanese accent. Chenle recognized him as Yuta. (Finding information on them was easy with magic on their side. Chenle had memorized most of their names, sometimes forgetting they didn't know his.) "Sis, you're gonna have to slow down, I have no clue what you're talking about," said Lucas, an extremely tall witch, though much kinder than he appears. Even then, he wasn't being aggressive.

  More Catholic students joined Yuta on the other side of the street, and Chenle watched in both curiosity and concern. "He's… don't act like you don't know!"

  "Does you guys know?" Lucas asked, turning around to face the gathered crowd. Nobody answered.

  "Seriously, man," an upperclassman, Ten, shouted across, "We have no clue what you're talking about!"

  "Sicheng came back to the dorm covered in blood and you're telling me you have no clue?" Yuta screamed.

  "Oh. My. Beelzebub," Donghyuck whispered.

  Renjun's face immediately etched into an expression of worry, rushing back into the school building without taking a single step.

  "You'll pay for this," a taller student spat, holding his hands in silent prayer as Yuta dragged him and a few others back up the steps.

  "Renjun's handling it," Ten announced, turning to return to the dorms. They all dissipated slowly, Donghyuck opening a portal to return Chenle and him to the dorm room, claiming he was too tired to walk. He fell painfully onto the floor when they emerged there, but Chenle was left unscathed.

  "So some idiot at St. Marjorie's pulled a prank, and we're getting blamed for it?" Donghyuck asked to no one in particular. "Did you see that, Jeno?"

  "I used an eavesdropping incantation," Jeno said, running a hand over his face as he stared up at the high ceiling. "I hope this all blows over. They hate us all the time, but this just isn't fun."

  Chenle nodded in agreement. "I don't really like when they yell at us."

  "Didn't you have religious parents, Lele?" Jeno asked.

  He nodded.

  Chenle had been doing magic as long as he could remember, and not even on purpose. Usually, someone had to seek out powers, had to converse with the Devil themselves, and also be born with an affinity for it, but Chenle was a natural. His parents despised him for it. He repented and wished it would all go away, but witchcraft felt nice. It felt natural. It was also cool as hell, admittedly, and trying to get a child to stop willing things to fly across the room was near impossible if they had the ability to do it. Chenle had lost that ability, turning to the books and away from the more chaotic forms of the art. It reminded him of rebellion, and Chenle wasn't rebellious. He was just a witch. Lucifer had willed him to be the way he was and he accepted it all in stride, losing all he had in the process, but magic gave him friends that replaced them. Not one of God's followers had ever been kind to him. Lucifer, however, was good, or at least well-meaning.

  "I'm going to bed," Donghyuck announced, waving the lights off with his hand and not bothering to change.

  Chenle heard a large crash as Donghyuck tripped on the way to his bed and fell, yet again.

  "Yah, Chenle!"


	2. I Didn't Fall

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is a bit of a short one, but I really wanted to post it. Enjoy!

_Do not turn to mediums or seek out spiritists, for you will be defiled by them. I am the Lord your God. (Leviticus 19:31)_

 

  Chenle rubbed the sleep from his eyes reluctantly, so tempted just to let it swallow him whole, but he had to get up, just to attend his least favorite class at eight in the morning. Talking to dead people never took the top spot on his list of things to do on a Thursday.

  He sat up, finding that Donghyuck had rather unfortunately rolled out of bed while sleeping, inevitably giving him back pain that would be more trouble to fix than it's worth. Chenle hoped the serum wore off. Donghyuck was one good fall away from trying to throw Chenle into Hell. (He's too alive and would be instantly sent back, but it'd be an uncomfortable few seconds).

  He tried to get ready as quietly as possible, which would have been easier if he could make his clothes just float to him with an artful shake of his hand. Chenle just wasn't that kind of witch - at least, not anymore. He wasn't as talented, he supposed, though he knew his friends would swear on their afterlives it wasn't true. He tried to shake off any thoughts of his magical inferiority and left the dorm, slinging his messenger bag over his shoulder and nearly buckling under the weight of all his books.

  Chenle half-walked, half-jumped down the stairs, and walked towards the main school building. He tapped in the password into the massive door, smiling when it glowed and permitted him entry. He walked up the white-and-black tiled staircase, finding himself in a massive, round room with a railing on the inside that looked down on the stairwell and doors along the outside. The ceiling was vaulted and high, and every sound in the room echoed, including his slow footsteps as he approached his classroom.

  "You're early."

  Chenle looked up at the professor's desk, sighing before checking the clock on the wall. He was early. Almost ten minutes early. He could have slept in, but there he was, and he didn't have enough time to turn around. "Hello, professor. Yes, I am."

  Taeyong chuckled lightly. "It's okay. You could actually help me set up the demonstration, if you like."

  "I'm really bad at necromancy. Like, really bad," Chenle explained, wringing his hands.

  "You won't ruin anything, I promise."

  It probably isn't his least favorite class, because Professor Taeyong was nice and always forgiving of Chenle's tragic mistake, but he couldn't get a hang of the subject itself. That _,_ and the whole concept _majorly_ creeped him out.

  Taeyong squatted down on the ground at the front of the room and pushed his finger into the cold tile. It left a dark blue paint, almost black, and he traced a pattern that almost looked like a circular flower before standing. The paint swelled with light.

  "Okay," Taeyong said, smiling proudly. "There's a bug over there in a jar on my desk."

  Chenle took the few steps over and found the jar, one small ant absently wandering around inside of it. He sighed as he took it back towards Taeyong. Students began arriving for class, sitting in their seats and talking to each other, but watching curiously.

  "Can you do it, or should I?" Taeyong asked.

  "I can do it," Chenle said, determined. He uncorked the jar and let the ant out in the center of the circle. Careful not to smudge any of the paint, he stomped on the ant, wincing as wind echoed throughout the room and Taeyong yelled a few Latin words that Chenle couldn't be bothered to translate. Chenle was blown back to the front wall of the classroom, a dull pain where he hit his back against the cobblestone, but there was a strange figure in the center of the pattern on the ground. _It worked_.

  It was a familiar figure, somehow, and Chenle could have sworn he'd seen him before. He had grown out black hair and a long face, but most the vision of him was fuzzy, almost as if he was made of smoke. Taeyong jumped excitedly. "Kunhang!"

  The name brought memories back to Chenle's mind, but not of that name. "Hendery?" Chenle asked, gaping at the figure.

  "Lele!" he noticed. "You're still at Huang's? Guess it hasn't been that long."

  But it had been that long, in Chenle's mind, long enough he nearly forgot how they met, how they knew each other.

 

   _"Don't freak out."_

_Chenle held a hand over his heart, which was threatening to leap out off of the balcony and into the massive swimming pool it overlooked. It was freezing out, close to Christmas, snow littering the ground, and Chenle had come out to escape the endless music about Jesus and his glory. Maybe this was God sending an angel to yell at him_

_"...I am definitely freaking out," Chenle answered._

_The boy laughed, taking a careful seat on the railing and folding his legs together. Clearly, he was still using whatever levitation powers got him there in the first place, or else he would have fallen quite tragically. Whatever anxieties Chenle had about that were second to the very presence of the lanky person before him._

_"Well, first of all, my name is Hendery," he said. "And you?"_

_This was when Chenle would have, in a more dramatic world, demanded Hendery tell him everything about himself and his intentions before one word of information passed his lips, but Chenle considered himself to be more friendly for that. "I'm Zhong Chenle."_

_"Nice to meet you," Hendery said, bowing his head slightly. "I'm actually here to on behalf of The Huang Academy for the Magical Arts. We're a… magic school."_

_"Like Hogwarts?" Chenle said, cocking an eyebrow. "My mom never let me read that."_

_"Chenle, we know you've been doing magic. I'm doing it right now. And I know… that all of this," Hendery said, gesturing to the mansion and the glowing nativity skin on the lawn, "hasn't been so kind to you."_

_Chenle shook his head. "Are you… are you saying I'm a witch?"_

_Hendery laughed. "That's what they call us, yeah."_

_Chenle could hear the nagging of his mother, the horror on her face every time he made something fly across the room. He remembered his years of meaningless confessions. The book his family abided by that told him that him liking boys was an unforgivable crime, much less doing magic._

_"What do I have to do?"_

_Hendery smiled proudly. "It's located on Jeju Island, South Korea. Lots of people, me included, speak Chinese, though, so you don't have to stress out too much. We get funding from a secret national committee I'm not supposed to talk about. If you want to come, all you have to do is step into this creepy portal I'm about to open."_

_"... are you going to kill me?"_

_"You're too adorable for that," Hendery joked. "And witches are just as against murder as everyone else. No need to worry."_

_"Can I pack my things?"_

_"Take your time."_

_Chenle didn't know what he was doing, in earnest, but he trusted Hendery and the promise of escape. Maybe even if he died. What was worth the risk of dying if not the chance to fly?_

 

  "I missed you," Chenle muttered.

  Hendery was killed in some risky, sudden resurrection effort gone horribly wrong. The witch didn't even agree to come to the academy. Chenle didn't know the whole story, and nobody ever wanted to talk about it, but to say he was bitter about Hendery's death beyond average mourning was an understatement.

  "I missed you, too, kiddo," Hendery said. "All of you," he added, gesturing to the other students in the room. A few waved and greeted him.

  "Why'd you summon me?" Hendery asked, turning back to Taeyong.

  "It's a demonstration," Taeyong answered. "Sorry if I disturbed you."

  "From what, eternity of sitting down here with dead stuff? The founder of Huang's won't stop praising me. This is a nice break."

  A student raised his hand. Taeyong nodded at him. "Don't people usually summon the dead to learn things?"

  "I know a lot of things," Hendery said indifferently. "You have any questions?"

  "Why can't you be resurrected?" a different student asked.

  Hendery stirred uncomfortably. "My death was considered to be my fault. And it kind of was. But I rather not talk about it."

   Hendery cleared his throat, the sound echoing awkwardly in the large space. "Did y'all want, like, an insight into the future or something?"

  "What's going on at St. Marjorie's?" Chenle blurted.

  He expected to be scolded for bringing it up - they generally weren't supposed to - but the room itself seemed to lean in to hear Hendery's answer.

  "I… I can't tell you, really," Hendery said. "There's some kind of confidentiality policy. But I can tell you it's more serious than you think."

  Whispers broke out across the room, everyone's concerns becoming realized. "I gotta head out," Hendery said, his figure already fading. "Summon me again soon, I've missed you."

  With that, he fizzled out completely, the paint on the floor going with him.

  Chenle almost forgot what Hendery had said before he ran into Renjun, pacing the large space outside the classroom. "Junnie?"

  He jumped, startled, before turning to face Chenle. "Oh. Hi. I sense a summoning."

  "Taeyong did one. He summoned Hendery."

  Renjun furrowed his brows before his face lit up in realization. "Oh, Kunhang. Really?"

  Chenle nodded. "He didn't talk about much though."

  "What did he say?"

  "Well… he did talk about what happened last night at St. Marjorie's," Chenle said slowly, walking with him down the stairs.

  "He did?"

  "Yeah. He said he wasn't allowed to say anything specific, but that it's more serious than we think."

  He studied Renjun's expression for a second.

  "Do we have to be worried?"

  Renjun sighed. "Not yet. Nothing's happened, really, it's just… it's fine."

  "It doesn't seem fine."

  Chenle pushed open the front door, Renjun hopping off of his toes and floating down the small staircase. "I'll take care of it," he said. "You don't have to worry."

  "Are you a student, or do you work here?" Chenle asked. "Isn't this someone else's problem?"

  "It's complicated," Renjun answered. "I have a responsibility."

  Chenle nodded in vague understanding. "Well, be careful."

  "I will."

  Chenle kicked the sidewalk aimlessly, trying to shake off the serious feeling that blanketed him. "We have time for lunch though, right?"

  Renjun laughed. "Yeah, I assume so."

  They retrieved Donghyuck from their dorm room before making their way down to the willow tree. Jeno shortly got out of his class to join them.

  Chenle really just wanted to eat peacefully with his friends, which would have been totally fine if he couldn't hear some strange white noise in his ears, making him shiver and stir uncomfortably. Renjun stood quickly and levitated off the ground. "Is this… what I think it is?" Donghyuck asked, covering his ears.

  Renjun rushed out of the coverage of the trees and Chenle joined him, immediately feeling a headache set in. It wasn't crippling, but annoying, buzzing in the back of his head. He looked across the street, where Renjun's eyes were fiercely trained.

  There was a few unfamiliar students on the lawn in front of St. Marjorie's. One was sitting cross-legged on the ground. Yuta, who had yelled at them the night before, was standing worriedly to the side. An older man with dark hair and a focused expression, probably a teacher, was standing and holding the sitting student's hands.

  "Dong Sicheng," Jeno said, pointing at the sitting student, whose face was screwed up in apparent discomfort. "Kim Doyoung," he added, pointing at the teacher.

  "...one of them is performing a damn _exorcism_ ," Donghyuck cursed.

  That explained the buzzing in his ears. Renjun sighed. "He's not powerful for any of that to work, even if they do have spirits," he criticized.

  "I don't know. It's pretty annoying," Jeno responded, hands over his ears.

  "A good exorcist would've eradicated the whole school by now, but they don't need to know that," Renjun said.

  Chenle's head was pounding harder by the second. "Can anyone make them be quiet?" he asked.

  "By magic or by interruption?" Jeno wondered.

  Lucky enough for them, Donghyuck was already charging to the sidewalk. "Yo!" he yelled.

  The three on the other side of the street looked over at Donghyuck. Jeno sighed, shaking his head, and jogged over to assist him.

  "I have no clue what you're trying to accomplish, but that isn't going to help."

  "Begone, witch!" the teacher, Doyoung, screamed back, voice shaky with what Chenle assumed to be fear.

  "We're trying to keep you from wasting your own time," Jeno added, crossing his arms.

  Sicheng stood from where he was sitting on the ground and let Yuta lead him into the school through a side door. Chenle presumed it was over, and made his way to the side of the street. "That was easy," Donghyuck mused.

  A large crowd of students from St. Marjorie's made their way out of the large doors, fixing pristine uniforms and eventually noticing the four of them.

  "We don't have time for this," Renjun exhaled, but none of them made an attempt to move away.

  But they didn't yell across the road at all. They walked as quickly as possible out of sight, and Donghyuck whipped around to face the rest of them. "Okay, that was so weird. What is going _on?"_

  "They're scared of us," Chenle noticed.

  Jeno sighed. "That thing with Sicheng wasn't even us."

  "They're not gonna believe that," Renjun said plainly.

  "Isn't it better if they aren't yelling at us anyway?" Chenle asked. He was unnerved by it for some reason, but it's not like he _wanted_ a bunch of teenage Catholic students to yell at them. That'd be ridiculous.

  Chenle kind of wanted a bunch of teenage Catholic students to yell at him. This was _weird_ , unnerving, out of character. Something felt wrong. With Hendery's words earlier, it was just even more sinister.

  Chenle had a class to get to, though, so he didn't really have time to think about it.

 

»»---------------------►

 

  "Honestly," Donghyuck started, climbing through a portal into their dorm room. Chenle didn't even look up from where he was absentmindedly sorting his potion ingredients. "If Mark or Jaemin doesn't yell at me, I'm gonna actually cover someone in blood."

  Chenle laughed. "I thought you hated them. You should be happy."

  "You know how it is."

  Chenle did.

  "Also," Donghyuck added, "Mark is kind of cute. In a stupid way."

  "He's also _Catholic,"_ Chenle pointed out. "There's a whole host of issues there."

  Donghyuck flopped down on his bed with a sigh. "Yeah. Still cute, though."

  "They're really afraid of us," Chenle said quietly, examining a vial full of a light red liquid.

  "Yeah, because we're just _so_ terrifying," Donghyuck said. "They're ridiculous."

  "They listen to the book, Hyuckie. They can't help it."

  "But they believe it! You can't tell me that isn't their fault."

  Chenle sighed. "Yes, I can."

  Donghyuck rolled his eyes. Chenle looked through his already sorted ingredients, soon finding a familiar, fine, orange powder (dried butterfly wings). He poured a small amount into his hand, soon adding a drop of a thick ostrich blood and mixed it with his fingers into a paste, scraping it onto his tongue and screwing up his face in disgust. "Chenle, I'm sorry-"

  "I'm going," Chenle said, pulling open the window and feeling the night breeze on his face. Donghyuck didn't understand what it was like to grow up Catholic, and he never could. He would never know what it felt like to believe, and that made him arrogant and insensitive, which Chenle could usually understand. Still, his patience was worn thin, and his brain was in a weird foggy state regardless. He took in a sharp breath of slightly too-cold air and let himself fall out the window.

  Except he didn't fall.

  He had made a slight flying antidote, allowing him to float up to the pointed ceilings of the towers with graceless kicks of his legs. He perched on a flat section of the roof between spires, sitting himself down softly.

  Chenle, maybe, had a penchant for going to high places in order to clear his mind, and it's what brought him to Huang's Academy in the first place. Now he had a magical way to get there.

  The stars were masked by light pollution, so he couldn't see them, but he imagined they were there. Jeno could draw them into the sky if he was there. Chenle missed his friends already, and it had been less than five minutes. Still, he was full of spite for Donghyuck. He wanted him to feel bad.

  "Lele!"

  The yelling was from the window he had just climbed through. Chenle closed his eyes and didn't move. "What?"

  "It's Jeno. Can you come back inside?"

  "When Donghyuck admits he's being mean."

  Chenle couldn't make out the short conversation they had. "He said no," Jeno admitted, sadly.

  "Then let me stay out here."

  The window clicked closed and Chenle cheered silently before the boredom set over his again. There was nothing to _do_ out there on the roof. Maybe he could fly over the nearby brick wall, into the park right beside it, and go for a walk. It seemed preferable to his present situation.

  Chenle stood slowly before making a courageous leap out towards the wall.

  He didn't float.

  He should have figured, he realized as he fell, that he didn't make enough for it to last very long. And now he was going to die or something. _Tragic_.

  He hit the grass with a loud thump, though he looked as if he was just sitting there on purpose, in his pajamas, in a dark corner of the park. He felt to make sure he hadn't broken anything before looking around.

  The wall around the academy was about a foot behind him, and trees were sparsely placed in the surrounding space. The main sidewalk was only a few strides from where he had fallen, along with a boy in sweatpants, a t-shirt, and a terrified expression.

  Chenle watched the boy's frozen figure. He couldn't have been older than Chenle, maybe even younger, and he was undoubtedly adorable. His dark brown hair was flat against his head and his small eyes were wide with either concern or fear.

  Chenle gave a small wave.

  The boy unfroze to return it.

  "I'm good," Chenle said, pushing himself to stand up.

  "You just… you just _fell_ ," the boy stuttered out, pointing to the roof and then back to the ground.

  "I jumped, actually."

  "Are you okay?"

  "For sure."

  The boy looked unconvinced. "Why would you _do_ that?"

  Chenle could have explained the whole witch/alchemist thing, but the kid already seemed so startled. "It was faster than walking."

  The boy shook his head in disbelief.

  "What's your name?"

  "Jisung. Park Jisung."

  Chenle grinned at him. "I'm Chenle. Zhong Chenle. Nice to meet you!"

  The boy, Jisung, gave a small but bright smile. Chenle made a firm decision in his head to befriended this mysterious boy. "So, what are you doing out this late?"

  Jisung shrugged. He waved his hand, inviting Chenle to walk with him on the path, and Chenle did. "I just like to be out at night."

  "What if there are murderers or something? How do you know _I'm_ not a murderer?"

  Jisung laughed with just a single breath. "I trust you."

  Chenle grinned at that, swinging his arms.

  "What about you?" Jisung asked.

  "My friends were being annoying," he explained.

  "I've been there," Jisung replied.

  "Why do we both have stupid friends?" Chenle joked, elbowing him lightly.

  "I am constantly surrounded by idiots."

  Chenle let out a scoff of mock offense. Jisung shook his head. "You're probably not an idiot, Chenle."

  "Probably?"

  "That's what I said."

  Chenle laughed loudly and delighted at the smile on Jisung's face. Jisung was _really_ cute. Chenle wanted to pinch his face and coo over him but they had none each other for all of five minutes. That would be weird.

  "Yah! How old _are_ you?"

  "I was born in 02."

  Chenle held his arms up in victory. "I'm older than you!"

  Jisung groaned in dread. "No, I'm always the youngest."

  "I'm just teasing. We're almost the same age. Don't worry about it."

  Jisung looked up questioningly, and Chenle nodded. "It's… kind of late," Jisung stuttered out, glancing at the strangely clunky watch on his wrist.

  "You're right," Chenle said sadly. "You have to go?"

  Jisung nodded. "It was nice to talk to you, though."

  "See you again?" Chenle asked hopefully.

  Jisung smiled and nodded. Chenle let out a breath he didn't realize he was holding. "Don't jump off the roof again, though."

  "No promises!" Chenle said, watching Jisung as he walked out of the park and across the street. He waved at Chenle one last time as he leapt up the steps at the side of St. Marjorie's and entered the dorm building.

  Wait.

   _St. Marjorie's?_

Chenle groaned in regret and realization. Jisung was a Marjorie kid. A Catholic student, and at their rival school just across the street. With that knowledge, Chenle had no idea how he snuck out after dark. He was an enigma, really, and he didn't seem like a lot of the other students - out of uniform, relaxed, bending rules. He had _just_ gotten upset at Donghyuck for misunderstanding what it was like to be Catholic, and now he was having his deeply held stereotypes challenged. It felt weird.

  He knew that Catholics couldn't help being the way they were.

  It never really occurred to him that they could be different.

  He climbed laboriously up the stairs to his pitch-dark dorm room and fell face-first on his mattress.

  "Chenle?" Jeno asked.

  He hummed.

  "...are you okay?"

  "I don't wanna talk about it right now. Tired."

  "I thought you fell off the roof," Donghyuck said.

  "I didn't. I jumped."

  "Uh-huh, sure."

  "I did!"

  "Go to sleep," Jeno whined.

  Chenle sighed, but he obeyed and let himself drift off. He was going to have a serious magical hangover after he got up. He resigned himself to his suffering in more ways than one.

  


**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm enjoying working on this so far~


	3. Kill Me Now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back, and I hope you enjoy!

_    But the cowardly, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexually immoral, those who practice magical arts, the idolaters and all liars - they will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. (Revelation 21:8) _

 

 "Yah, Lele! If you don't wake up and accept my apology right now, I'm gonna teleport you outside!"

  Chenle didn't stir, despite hearing Donghyuck's yelling and, more noticeably, feeling the weight of his body as he sat on top of him. It was uncomfortable, but he wanted to go back to sleep.

  "It's raining out, isn't it?" Jeno asked.

  "Yep."

  That's all it took. Chenle sat up and shoved Donghyuck off the bed before rubbing the sleep from his eyes. "You're all annoying."

  "Love you too," Jeno cooed.

  "Forgive me, Lele!" Donghyuck ordered, clambering back to his feet.

  "Fine, if you let me go back to sleep."

  "No can do," Jeno said, standing up to look for clothes in his wardrobe. "I want breakfast."

  "I don't wanna go to the cafeteria," Chenle whined back.

  "We're sneaking off campus," Donghyuck said excitedly. "And Jeno's paying. Renjun can't know or he'd definitely turn us in, so he isn't coming, but-"

  "Can we get donuts?" Chenle asked, sitting up quickly.

  Jeno shrugged indifferently.

  "Yes!" he cheered with Donghyuck in unison.

  He threw the potion ingredients on the floor from the night before into his storage cabinet, effectively ruining all the organization he had done, but it wasn't as if he would have maintained it for long, anyway. He dressed quickly in a t-shirt and sweatpants and watched amusingly as Donghyuck leaved through a book.

  He mumbled a few words before waving his hands and opening a portal, black and swirling. Chenle stepped through it confidently and emerged lying down on the sidewalk.

  "Oomph."

  Jeno fell on top of him, crushing Chenle under his weight.

  "Ack. I missed." More weight was added onto the pile, making Chenle's ribcage cry out in protest.

  "You don't say?" Jeno said.

  They clambered out of their tangle on the ground and Chenle brushed off his clothes with his palms. Donghyuck grinned, unbothered, and Jeno eyed him suspiciously. Still, they started off down the street, Donghyuck looking around with way too much suspicion, as if Headmaster Kun was going to pop out of the ground and give them all detentions for leaving campus. That wouldn't seem too unlikely if Kun was one to suspect his students would do such a thing, but he wasn't. They walked down to the cafe happily. It was hardly even raining, just providing a mist that made Chenle's skin feel fresh and new. Jeno's threat had been empty.

  On the other side of the street, the Catholic students were rolling their suitcases behind them as they, presumably, made their way home for the weekend. Chenle's heart twisted with jealousy. He had no weekend visits. No family left to speak of. No home to return to when vacations hit or when he finally graduated-

  "Chenle."

  Jeno's voice startled him out of his thoughts. He was tugging on his sleeve and pointing across the street to St. Marjorie's, which they had hardly passed. Yuta, who they had seen with Sicheng during the extremely mediocre exorcism, looked as if he wanted to march across the street and strangle them but there was some invisible wall stopping him. His face was downright  _ terrifying.  _ Chenle stumbled back instinctively.

  "You! I can't believe you did this to him!"

  "We didn't do anything!" Donghyuck retorted.

  "What happened?" Chenle asked. He found himself genuinely concerned.

  "He's… he's in the hospital! He almost died," Yuta said, voice quieter and with an underlying tremble.

  "We really didn't do that. Did we?" Donghyuck said.

  "Renjun would have done something if he detected the magic," Jeno answered, eyebrows furrowed as he looked at Yuta.

  "I don't like you," Donghyuck answered loudy. "But we're gonna try to fix this!"

  He grabbed Chenle's hand and tugged him down the sidewalk. "But we're getting donuts first," he said, quieter.

  "What are we supposed to do about it?" Chenle asked. "It could still be a prank."

  "Renjun doesn't seem to think so," Jeno said.

  "Then what is it?"

  "Witchcraft," Donghyuck said eloquently.

  Chenle rolled his eyes. "We should ask Ten," he suggested. "He knows everything."

  "I'm offended that you think I don't," Donghyuck retorted.

  Jeno snorted. "You share one brain cell with all of us and you know it."

  "Stop hogging it," Chenle said, shoving Jeno lightly.

  They all laughed as they walked into the small cafe and ordered a dozen donuts (never underestimate the consumption power of three teenagers) before bounding back towards the school.

  "What are we gonna do about St. Marjorie's?" Chenle asked through a mouthful of strawberry cake.

  Donghyuck shrugged. "I figured we'd head down to the hospital and figure out what happened to Sicheng."

  Jeno sighed. "Not to be that person, but why is this our problem?"

  Neither of them answered for a bit.

  "Well, they'll stop hating us so much if we can prove we aren't the ones who did it," Chenle said. "And maybe… we can get them to like us."

  "Why would we want that?" Donghyuck asked. "I mean, all for the good Samaritan thing or whatever, but who cares about them  _ liking  _ us?"

  "Maybe I do," Chenle mumbled.

  Jeno sighed. "Fine. We can end the feud and Donghyuck can go make out with Mark and it'll be fine."

  "I literally never said-"

  "You never had to," Chenle interrupted with a laugh, taking another bite.

  "Anyway. I have a class, but because I value your continued survival, I will come," Jeno said.

  "It's Saturday," Donghyuck wondered.

  "And?"

  "Let's go get Renjun!" Chenle said happily. 

  "Adventure!" Donghyuck cheered, skipping down the sidewalk.   

 

»»---------------------►

 

  "Yes, we're here to see Dong Sicheng?"

  "He isn't taking visitors."

  Renjun rolled his eyes before turning them back towards the receptionist. Something in the air shifted strangely, and it felt so stuffy that Chenle could hardly breathe.

  "Are you sure?" Renjun asked, voice dripping with sticky sweetness.

  "Ah," the receptionist said, unnerved. "He's in room 202."

  The atmosphere cleared and Renjun turned back towards them. "Can you do  _ everything?  _ What was that, a persuasion spell?" Donghyuck asked.

  Renjun smiled proudly. "It's not much. Let's go."

  They quickly found the elevator near the waiting room, and Renjun pressed the button to go to the second floor. The room was, as expected, one of the first ones.

  "Do you have a plan for this?" Chenle whispered, hand on the door handle.

  Donghyuck shook his head, Jeno shrugged, and Renjun nodded. Chenle sighed and pushed the door open.

  The room was surprisingly quiet and empty, sans the teenager lying on the bed and staring at the ceiling. His curly black hair was poofed up awkwardly in places, but he seemed peaceful, if not bored. Aside from Jisung, Chenle had never been this close to one of the Catholic students, and it was disorienting. He glanced over. "Hi," Chenle squeaked.

  "If you're all going to kill me, you should do at least let me pray or something first," Sicheng said flatly.

  Chenle noticed the bandages around his torso, clean and yet definitely covering something more disturbing.

  "That's not what we came for," Donghyuck scoffed. "You need to stop assuming we're always here to murder you, really, I-"

  "Hyuck," Jeno interrupted.

  He huffed, but stopped talking.

  "We actually came to ask what happened," Jeno said. "If you want to talk about it, obviously."

  "Why do you care?" Sicheng asked. "For all I know, you guys are still responsible."

  Renjun whispered something to Jeno, and he approached Sicheng. "Can I?" he asked, gesturing to the bandages on his stomach.

   "I'm still on painkillers," Sicheng answered, gesturing to the IV in his arm. "It won't hurt if you kill me or anything."

   "I'm really not going to do that," Jeno said calmly.

  Sicheng nodded.

  He removed the bandages slowly, revealing a wound that Chenle barely had time to process before he slammed his eyes shut in disgust. He wasn't squeamish, but it was so bloody and deep. "What  _ happened?"  _ he asked, covering his face with his hands and peaking through his fingers. 

  "I was stabbed," he answered. "I think. It was really dark. There was no one there, and then they went out… and then I was here."

  Jeno hummed in acknowledgement, waving his hands methodically over Sicheng's wound. He moved his lips in a silent incantation, and the blood dissipated into thin air. The cut sealed itself closed slowly, leaving only a large white scar, but it wasn't unsightly. Chenle thought it was cool.

   "Am I dead now?" Sicheng deadpanned, looking up at the ceiling.

  "Will you  _ look?" _ Donghyuck said, exasperated.

  Sicheng sighed and looked down at the scar. His eyes went wide in disbelief. It was as much of an expression Chenle had seen from him so far. "You… is there some sort of catch?"

  "Nah," Jeno said, sealing the bandage back on despite it being unnecessary. "It's just a thing I can do."

  "Thanks," Sicheng said. "But why? Why are you even here?"

  Renjun stepped towards him purposefully. "Sicheng, we want to stop whatever's going on."

  Sicheng rose an eyebrow suspiciously. "I mean, that was neat, but I don't really want a part in your witchcraft stuff."

  "Whoever's doing this is after you, so you're already in it," Renjun said plainly.

  Sicheng ran a hand over his face. "It's because I missed mass because I had allergies that time in sixth grade. I'm going to Hell."

  "...is he being serious?" Chenle asked quietly.

  "It doesn't work like that," Jeno said. "I'm pretty sure."

  "You're not going to Hell," Renjun said. "That is, if you don't want to. I'm sure I could work something out with Lucifer-"

  "I don't want that," Sicheng said. "This is so  _ weird _ , just… can you guys fix it?"

  "I'm… not sure," Renjun answered. "It depends what's going on. We'd just really like you to stop with the exorcisms, because it's clearly not making anything better."

  "I don't have a say in that."

  "Understandable," Donghyuck said.

  "I told you we should ask Ten," Chenle said. "He can probably figure out what this is."

  "Or we could tell Kun," Jeno suggested.

  Renjun rolled his eyes. "He's against us getting involved. Because it's dangerous, as Sicheng can attest."

  "The others aren't going to trust you to fix it," Sicheng explained. "I may not be hostile against you, but that's because I know your punishment will come, and it's not my job to give it. And… I really do hope you can help."

  "I'm getting mixed signals," Donghyuck stage-whispered to Chenle.

  "We'll do our best to help you," Chenle said, bowing his head.

  "Thanks, I guess," Sicheng said.

  They all stood in silence for a few minutes.

  "...are you going to magically raise my GPA, too, or are you leaving?"

  They filed out of the room quickly, offering weak and awkward goodbyes. "Make another portal," Renjun said, gesturing to Donghyuck impatiently.

  "...why didn't you just teleport us up here in the first place?" Chenle asked.

  "I didn't know where it was," Donghyuck said. "But I kind of don't remember where the academy is, so this is a shot in the dark."

  "I was right," Jeno said. "We're all going to die."

  Donghyuck slid the portal open with a grand motion and waved the three of them through.

  Fortunately, they did emerge in front of the academy, much to Donghyuck's surprise and celebration. Renjun didn't start off with them towards their room, though, earning a curious look from Chenle.

  "I'm gonna go collect materials to summon Kunhang," Renjun said. "He is who you first spoke to, correct?"

  Chenle nodded. "We'll all help when you… figure that out," he said. Renjun nodded and floated up the front stairs to the door, knocking in the password before entering.

  "What else can we do, though?" Jeno asked as they walked.

  "I have to finish my voodoo project," Chenle said, continuing up to the dorm. "So I'm gonna go hang out with Yangyang." Frankly he wasn't planning on it, but he said it, so that's what he would do.

  Yangyang's dorm was in the same building, so taking the stairs up a little higher led him to the right door. He knocked. Jungwoo opened the door, looking confused before his smile widened. "Lele!"

  Chenle smiled. "Is Yangyang in?"

  There was a scream from inside the room and a small figure soon bounced out to stand at Chenle's side. "Hi," Yangyang greeted.

  "I was gonna go finish my voodoo project, if you want to join," Chenle said.

  Yangyang's face lit up. "Of course!"

  They both bid goodbye to Jungwoo and stopped by Chenle's dorm room so he could pet Elizabeth (the real one), retrieve his mostly finished doll, and collect all his ingredients. He put them in his messenger bag and they started off towards the school building. Chenle knocked the password carefully into the wood and entered the strange tiled stairwell.

   Yangyang bounced happily up to the first stairn and turned around. He jumped, slamming down onto the ground level again, and the whole building seemed to collapse. Really, the floor just folded under itself to reveal a staircase down to the basement. They walked down quickly together. 

  The basement was dark and smelled like fresh rain. The brick flooring was even and polished, reflecting the small amount of light from the various lamps around the room, and making loud noises as Chenle walked towards the center of the room. There were cauldrons and a large empty space, and a collection of much rarer spell books along the far wall that Chenle only hadn't shown Donghyuck to spare his and the whole country's well being. Yangyang summoned a fire underneath a cauldron (effortlessly, Chenle noticed, and jealousy licked at the corners of his brain), and waved Chenle over.

  "You do know how to do this, right?"

  Chenle nodded, pulling his bag over his head and the various containers out of it. One was a large, flimsy, plastic bottle of thin yellow liquid.

  "Is that… orange juice?" Yangyang asked, clearly appalled.

  Chenle laughed as he dumped the whole bottle into the cauldron. He took in the citrus smell and smiled at Yangyang. "Yes."

  Chenle had read over the recipe a million times before, preparing himself for attempting it, and now repeated the motions as if he had practiced them his whole life. He stirred in a figure-8 pattern exactly three times before speaking. "Add in the unicorn hair."

  "Where'd you get unicorn hair?" Yangyang asked, carefully retrieving it from a bottle and dropping it into the still cold liquid.

  "Jungwoo is good with animals," Chenle said happily, watching as the juice took on a holographic quality that lit up the dim space. 

  Yangyang held up a bottle of what appeared to be extremely small rocks, angular and multi-colored but mostly gray in the dark. "What is this?" he asked, shaking it.

  "Volcanic quartz," Chenle answered.

  "Is that a thing?"

  "Not sure," he answered, earning a laugh from Yangyang. He carefully measured a pinch of the rocks and threw them in the cauldron.

  "Don't those have to dissolve?" Yangyang asked.

  "Yep. Should take… twelve hours," Chenle said. "But that's so  _ long!" _

__ Yangyang flopped down on the ground unceremoniously and agreed with him. "How's that thing at St. Marjorie's going, by the way?"

  Chenle sighed. "We don't really know. One kid almost  _ died.  _ Renjun's figuring it all out right now."

  Yangyang, ever the reflection of Chenle's inner thoughts, pouted slightly. "What, are you not helping? Destroying evil?"

  "There isn't much I can do other than this," Chenle said, pointing vaguely at the cauldron. "And they just don't need it yet."

  "You've been practicing other kinds of magic," Yangyang pointed out.

  "Sure, but everyone else is better at it. Jeno sold his secrets for healing powers. Hyuck can teleport anything anywhere. Renjun is just… Renjun."

  Yangyang nodded knowingly. "Still. Don't feel useless, yeah? You're super important."

  Chenle hadn't even had time to fathom the insecurities Yangyang was soothing, but he appreciated the kindness. He smiled. "Thank you."

  Yangyang shrugged. "Well, it's weird and dark down here. Wanna head up to the courtyard?"

  "And do what?"

  Yangyang pretended to think. "Play pranks on Taeyong?"

  "Play pranks on Taeyong," Chenle agreed.

 

»»---------------------►

 

  Chenle landed on the cold grass with a very unsatisfying thump and a slight pain in both of his ankles.

   He didn't know if Jisung would be there, and he convinced himself he didn't care, but still clambered over the brick wall when he thought no one was looking and jumped into the park. It was empty as far as we could see, though his view was still obstructed by the trees. He made his way out towards the path.

  He glanced around, his eyes eventually settling on a figure rushing across the street in his direction, hands shoved in the pocket of their sweatshirt. He grinned in realization. It  _ was  _ Jisung.  _ He came back. _

  Chenle waved at him, admittedly awkwardly, as Jisung was still too far away to probably even notice him.

  He waved back.

  Chenle grinned as Jisung approached him. He had dark circles under his eyes and a strange dead expression on his face, but he smiled nonetheless. "Hey, Chenle."

  "Hey, Jisungie!"

  Jisung fell into step next to him as they began along the circular path, and Chenle felt strangely at peace. "How are you?" Jisung asked quietly.

  "I don't know," Chenle admitted.

  He almost mentioned what was going on at St. Marjorie's, and that would involve talking about being a witch, and Jisung… probably wouldn't like that. Jisung clearly didn't know, since he still talked with Chenle, and showed up to see him a second time. Nothing would scare an adorable Catholic boy away faster than witchcraft.

  Chenle settled for "Things are just complicated."

  Jisung nodded in understanding. "I know what you mean."

  "Have things been… happening?"

  Jisung sighed. "You could say that. Everyone's kind of waiting for something worse. I presume you already know what I mean."

  Chenle feigned ignorance, raising his eyebrows.

  "I know you go to Huang's, Chenle," Jisung said, plainly, as if it was information everyone had.

  "What?" Chenle stuttered out. "And you go to St. Marjorie's…?"

  Jisung nodded.

  "And you aren't yelling at me. Or attacking me. And you're here."

  Jisung nodded slowly, a small smile on his face.

  "It doesn't bother you?" Chenle asked, focusing his attention on kicking pebbles into the grass.

   "Not really," Jisung said. "I've never been very committed to all that… stuff."

   Chenle nodded, convincing himself he understood. "You mean… religion?"

  Jisung laughed tensely. "Yeah, I guess. I've gone through a lot of stuff that has made it hard to believe."

  "Well," Chenle started, trying to lighten the situation, "I've  _ seen  _ Lucifer before. So they at least have that part right."

  "Really? What does he look like?"

  Chenle laughed. They always ask that. "No one can remember after he leaves," he explained. "It's really disappointing, actually."

  "Aww," Jisung said, hardly sounding disappointed.

  They walked in silence for a few moments before Jisung spoke again. "I really hope you guys will be able to help Sicheng."

  "Jeno already did help him," Chenle said.

  "Jeno?"

  "He's my friend. He's got these sick healing powers," Chenle explained excitedly. As jealous as he got of his friends occasionally, he was immensely proud of them. He'd never pass up the opportunity to sing their praises. "He healed Sicheng's… bleeding gash, or whatever that was."

  "That's really nice of him," Jisung said, voice round with honesty. "I bet Sicheng didn't appreciate it so much."

  "He thought we were gonna kill him," Chenle said with a small laugh. "Even after Jeno healed him, he seemed pretty convinced."

  "Jaemin kind of made things worse after whatever that cat thing was showed up," Jisung said.

  "Oh, the one Hyuck summoned?"

  "I suppose."

  "Oh. Yeah. He does that a lot. What did Jaemin do, though?"

  "He can be dramatic," Jisung said with a shrug. "Just, ya know. Screaming. Announcing. Reading Bible passages at the top of his lungs."

  Chenle nodded. "Sounds about right."

  "To be honest, it just surprised me that he knows how to read."

  Chenle couldn't stop the high-pitched laughter that pushed out of his lungs, and Jisung laughed quietly beside him, glancing at him from his peripheral vision.

  "I sometimes wish we weren't sworn enemies," Chenle lamented. "We'd probably be friends."

  "Well, we're friends, right?"

  Chenle smiled. "Yeah, we are."

  Jisung scrunched his nose in a small, happy gesture. "So, it's not impossible."

  "But that's different," Chenle whined.

  "How so?"

  "You're not that Catholic, and I used to be Catholic. So we're, like, the same," Chenle said, with a joking tone, lest Jisung be offended by it.

  "We can understand each other," Jisung clarified.

  "Yeah."

  "And your other friends… can't?"

  "Not really," Chenle said. "A lot of them really despise all of you. Or at least think you're gullible."

  "To be fair," Jisung said, "a lot of the St. Marjorie's kids think the same about you."

  "I guess it's better than it being one-sided."

  They had taken a full lap around the park at that point. Jisung gave a cautious look back towards St. Marjorie's, the large, looming building that cast a black shadow over most of the area, and he looked back at Chenle. Chenle smiled as brightly as he could. "See you tomorrow?"

  "Tomorrow," Jisung echoed, bowing slightly before he started back across the empty street. Chenle wait until he disappeared from view to return to the dorm building.

  "Ah hah!"

  He was met face-to-face with a very celebratory Donghyuck.

  "You've been sneaking out!"

  Chenle rolled his eyes and pushed pass him. "No," he corrected. "It hasn't been a secret."

  "But you didn't tell me," Donghyuck argued.

  "Then where's Jeno?" Chenle asked, gesturing to the empty bed between both of theirs in the circular room.

  "Bothering Renjun," Donghyuck answered. He was quiet for a few glorious seconds. "Wait, you tried to change the subject!"

  Chenle smiled innocently. "I don't know what you're talking about."

  "Where did you go?"

  "You were watching," Chenle pointed out. "You know."

  "I wanna hear you say it."

  Chenle huffed. "I fell off the roof last night and met this boy named Jisung. And today we just talked again."

  "He's from St. Marjorie's, Lele! St. Marjorie's Private  _ Catholic  _ School?"

  "Did you watch us the  _ whole  _ time?"

  "Not important!" Donghyuck said. Chenle sat down on his bed, rolling his eyes. He already knew Donghyuck was going to ask a whole bunch of stupid questions, and he wouldn't like the answers, and he knew that. Donghyuck moved to stand in front of Chenle with his hands on his hips. "What if he's trying to burn you at the stake or something?"

  "He isn't," Chenle said, laughing sarcastically. "Did you see him? He's too cute for that."

  "Looks can be deceiving. If he believes in that stupid  _ book _ -"

  "It's not  _ stupid, _ Hyuck, I swear to Lucifer-"

  Donghyuck immediately took a stance as if the walls were about to collapse, holding his hands out defensively. "You can't just say that!"

  "He isn't listening, don't worry-"

  There was a crumbling sound as the ground beneath them quaked, causing Donghyuck to dramatically cover his head and fall to his knees on the floor. Chenle stood up just in time to prevent his glass display of potion ingredients from smashing to dust.

  "He's  _ always _ listening," Donghyuck hissed.

  Chenle flopped back down onto his mattress. "Just… stop calling it stupid, Hyuck. Jisung doesn't really believe in it anyways."

  "...fine."

  Chenle was surprised at his answer, but he wasn't about to question it.

  "If he kills you, though," Donghyuck continued. "I told you so."

  "He won't."

  "I said  _ if he does _ !"

  Chenle laughed and shook his head.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Where is the plot going? The world may never know.  
> I definitely did enough planning beforehand and am not making this up as I go.


	4. Kyrie Eleision

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I apologize in advance.

_A man or a woman who is a medium or spiritist among you must be put to death. You are to stone them; their blood will be on their own heads. (Leviticus 20:27)_

 

_What… is happening? Am I… No, no, no, this can't be real…_

 

»»---------------------►

 

   After Sicheng returned from the hospital, the atmosphere seemed to return to normal. Donghyuck yelled across the street at St. Marjorie's on Monday morning. Renjun half-heartedly told him to stop. Jeno acted as an enabler. Chenle finished his voodoo project and got a near perfect score, though he was advised not to let anyone else around the doll. He wouldn't have dreamed of it, anyway.

  It felt almost too peaceful.

  Chenle knew it wasn't just him that thought so, especially when he found Renjun sitting in the middle of the massive concrete circle in the courtyard, looking up at the sun.

  "You good?"

  Renjun sighed before he nodded.

  "Still trying to figure out that moon project or whatever?"

  "I am," he said. "The conditions haven't been very good, though."

  Chenle looked up at the sky with him for a few seconds before he got extremely bored. "What do you think about what's going on?"

  "Hmm?"

  "Sicheng is back, and everyone is acting like they used to."

  "Yeah."

  "But we still don't know what even happened to him in the first place."

  "...yeah."

  "It doesn't bother you?"

  "No, it does," Renjun conceded. "I just don't know what to do about it. Other than what I'm already planning."

  "Can you tell me what it is?"

  "No."

  "You sure?"

  "Yes, I'm sure."

  "Suit yourself," Chenle said, sitting cross-legged on the ground.

  "Someday! I'm gonna teleport you over here! And… punch you!"

  Chenle turned towards the familiar yelling. Jeno had his arms hooked around Donghyuck's from behind, holding him back and dragging him towards the courtyard. Meanwhile, Donghyuck was waving his fists and screeching like a baby being woken from a nap, fighting to get back to the curb, but Jeno's hold was solid. Chenle made a mental note to never fight Jeno.

  "They ran away," Donghyuck pouted, Jeno finally letting him go.

  "I wonder why," Jeno said.

  Donghyuck smacked his arm lightly and sat down, leaning back to put his head in Chenle's lap. "I'm not even allowed to bully Mark in peace," he huffed.

   "Tough luck," Renjun said, turning to face them. "Anyway, there's something magic going on."

  "We go to a magic school, Renjun," Jeno pointed out.

  "I don't think your sensing magic power is as useful as you think," Chenle agreed.

  "Not like that. I told you, I have all the brain cells…"

  "Then what is it?" Chenle asked.

  Renjun squinted towards the street and pointed. "It's there. Something. I felt it that day Sicheng got stabbed, too, but this is… worse."

  "Oh," Jeno said.

  "...what are we supposed to do?" Donghyuck asked.

  Renjun sighed. "It has to be something, right?"

  "Let's go."

  The three others turned to look at Chenle, eyes wide with disbelief. "What do you mean _go?"_ Donghyuck asked, sitting up. " _Go_ to St. Marjorie's?"

   "I mean, yeah," Chenle said. "Someone could die, and it's not like they'd let us resurrect them…"

  "Is this about Jisung?" Jeno asked.

  "This is about how I care about them," Chenle sighed, leaning back on his hands. "And Jisung is part of it."

  Donghyuck shrugged. "Okay then."

  "You're… you're serious?" Renjun asked, eyebrows cocked precariously.

  "I mean, we have Jeno, who can heal us if anything happens, probably," Donghyuck said, "and me, so I can get us out of there if needed, and Renjun, magical genius, and Chenle, who can perform whatever alchemic ritual is needed to get rid of whatever's going on."

   It was silent. Chenle pondered it. They really didn't have much to lose, but the Catholic students across the street definitely did.

  "This is… a terrible idea," Jeno said, hand over his face. He breathed out a laugh. "We might as well do it."

  "What are we going to _do_?" Renjun asked.

  "Investigate!" Donghyuck exclaimed happily.

  "Doesn't your magic detection thingy get more specific if we can get closer?" Chenle asked.

   Renjun nodded cautiously.

   "Then we go in, find the culprit, subdue the threat, and hopefully make it out alive," Jeno said, a glint of mischief behind his eyes.

   "Are we doing this because you all think it will be cool, or are we trying to help?" Renjun asked.

  "Two birds with one stone?" Chenle suggested.

  "We're probably gonna need help from your lover boy Jisungie," Donghyuck said, looking at Chenle.

  He huffed in annoyance. "Don't call him that!"

  "Whatever," Donghyuck said. "Tonight?"

  "Tonight," Renjun confirmed.

  "Let's get it," Jeno confirmed.

 

»»---------------------►

 

  People always say it's good to be impulsive, but Chenle figured he had crossed from the territory of 'fun and exciting' into 'dangerous and stupid'. He finished carefully packing his most useful ingredients into his messenger bag and latched it closed.

   "Mwahah!" Donghyuck exclaimed dramatically, whirling around the room in his massive black cape.

   "What if it gets caught on something?" Jeno said. "No capes!"

   Donghyuck stopped dead in his tracks. "Damn, Jeno, why do you always have to be right?" He carefully removed the garment and folded it, placing it in his wardrobe's top drawer and waving goodbye to it solemnly.

  "Are we absolutely sure about this?" Chenle said. "Like, _certain?"_

"Well, I'm pretty certain," Jeno said, shrugging, "and Donghyuck is more invested in this than he's ever been in anything."

  "Not true," Donghyuck responded. "Once I spent weeks researching to find out how to make Mark go bald."

  "I can do that, you know," Chenle said with a laugh.

  Donghyuck's eyes went wide in disbelief.

  "You'd have to get him to drink something, though, and that's not really realistic."

  Donghyuck's face hardly fell. "We'll add it to the to-do list."

  "Can we just focus?" Jeno said, shoving his backpack full of snacks from underneath his bed.

  "Where did you get those from?" Chenle asked, eyes wide, pointing accusingly.

  "It's my emergency stash!" Jeno defended.

  "And me being hungry at midnight doesn't count as an emergency to you?" Donghyuck retorted angrily, but there was a big smile on his face.

  Jeno snorted. "No, not really."

  "Yah!"

  "Who needs enemies with friends like y-"

  "Children."

  Chenle looked up to see Renjun sitting on the sill of their open window. Jeno jumped, startled, almost dropping the bag of chips in his hand.

  "You gotta stop doing that," he mumbled.

  Renjun rolled his eyes. "Are we ready to go?"

  "Is it even dark outside?" Chenle asked.

  The four of them looked out the window. It was decisively not dark outside. The sun was setting, but the sky was still lit a light gray-blue - definitely not _dark outside._

  "I guess we have time to make a game plan," Jeno said as Renjun helped himself down into the room and closed the window behind him.

  "So," Chenle said helpfully.

  "So," Jeno repeated

  "I have ideas," Donghyuck started. "No pulling a horror movie and splitting up. That's stupid."

  Renjun nodded. "Seems fair."

  "Including you, Renjun. No getting wrapped up in your superiority complex and abandoning us," Jeno added.

  Renjun made a face at him.

  "What are we gonna be there to do?" Chenle asked. "What's our mission?"

  "Save lives," Renjun said. "Minimize damage."

  "Dramatic," Donghyuck chimed in.

  " _All_ of this is dramatic," Chenle said.

  "What can you do," Jeno said wistfully.

  "Just avoid dying," Renjun said. "We should be fine as long as none of us die."

  "What if we get caught?" Chenle said. "I'm sure they won't really enjoy us being there."

  "Can you make invisibility… stuff?" Donghyuck asked.

  "It'll take a few hours," Chenle said.

  "We have a few hours," Renjun said.

  

»»---------------------►

 

  "Is anyone gonna know we're gone?" Jeno asked, looking around the dark street.

  "No one room checks you guys," Renjun said. "I take responsibility for you."

  "Aww, that's so sweet!" Donghyuck gushed.

  "No, it's because I know you'll do stupid things, and you won't be stopped by just Kun."

  "Well, right now you're being kind of counterproductive," Chenle said.

  "Don't remind me." Renjun sighed heavily and took a few steps forward. "I feel it. Heavy. There's something over there."

  Donghyuck glanced up at the streetlight before snapping his fingers, putting it out.

  "...what was the point of that," Jeno asked.

  "So they can't see us," Donghyuck said. "I am now realizing that means we can't see either."

  Renjun rolled his eyes and pushed them all into the street. They rushed across and soon touched down in the opposite sidewalk.

  St. Marjorie's was large, dark, and foreboding, and even more so from close up. It was eluminated by sconces lined along the walls, and the stained glass refracted the moonlight haphazardly around the surface. Renjun took a few cautious steps towards the dark left side of the grand staircase. "It's this way."

  Chenle followed him carefully, the wet grass swishing loudly under his feet. Donghyuck carefully linked his pinkie with Chenle's.

  It was one thing to talk about doing something like this, and another thing to actually do it. Chenle was scared.

  Renjun stopped in front of one of the many identical stone buildings and looked up at it. He shook his head before walking the ten feet to the next one and examining it as well. He squinted.

  "Here," he said, voice quiet and hoarse.

  Donghyuck pulled Chenle along as he tried to turn the silver door handle. Unsurprisingly, it didn't open. Donghyuck let out a disappointed exhale and removed his hand from Chenle's. He jangled the handle a few times, waving his other hand over it almost as if he was typing on a keyboard, and Chenle heard a small click. Donghyuck opened the door slowly.

  The entrance hall was smaller than anticipated, lit only by one failing table lamp, and adorned with only a few chairs that looked comfortable, but almost deceptively so, as if they were waiting for you to sit on them just to be disappointed at their lumpy and flimsy nature. It was narrow, almost so that Chenle could touch both opposite walls at the same time. There was a door on the left and a window on the right showing the ominously lit lawn.

  Chenle took a few steps into the room to allow the others to enter and watched Renjun for further instruction. He ran his hand over the wall and turned his head upwards. "This… really isn't good. Everyone, watch your backs."

  Chenle nodded, gripping the strap on his messenger bag so hard his knuckles turned white. Jeno pushed open the door, revealing a shiny metal staircase. Renjun led them all into the stairwell.

  Each one of their cautious footsteps echoed around the space and through Chenle's ribs. He could see Huang's Academy through the window, warm and dark and comfortable, orange light shining through tall arched windows. There was almost nothing he wouldn't give to be back there.

  Chenle shook it off. He was there for a reason. He was going to save lives and be useful, and finally use the magic he had for good. He was going to help. No amount of cowardice was going to be able to convince him to turn around, he decided.

  A loud, metallic bang sounded through the stairwell.

  Chenle jumped, almost falling backwards down the stairs if not for Jeno's steadying hand on his back. "Sorry," Donghyuck whispered. "I tripped."

  "Sshh!" Renjun shushed, turning around and holding a finger to his lips before turning back towards the door on the landing just above them. He carefully floated up to it, leaving the other three to tip-toe behind him.

  It opened easily, and Chenle heard Renjun take in a sharp breath of air. "It's here. Whatever it is, it's here."

  Donghyuck had his hands poised for conjuring, and Chenle looked over Renjun's shoulder at the pitch-dark hallway in front of them. Renjun clicked his tongue and a soft blue light filled the space.

  It was, evidently, a dorm building. The hallway had doors on either side all the way down, with a few inspirational and religious posters on the beige walls and a window at the end of the narrow passage. Other than the unexplained frigid air, it was totally normal, if not eerie and strange at that hour of night.

  "This doesn't make sense, I feel it," Renjun said, retouching his feet to the cheap gray carpet and pacing around. "But there isn't anything _here."_

Chenle stuck close behind him, Jeno's hand still pressed against his back. Donghyuck pushed ahead of them to look out the window.

  There was a loud sound as the door behind them slammed shut.

  Chenle screamed, but hardly any sound escaped his throat. Renjun pushed both him and Jeno back behind him, towards the end of the hallway.

  "Show yourself!" Renjun demanded, voice hardly wavering.

  Chenle froze, staring at the blank steel door, the sound of it still echoing through his skull.   Renjun began an incantation, loud and sure. "Revelare, et occultatum!"

  A roaring wind tore through the hallway, and Chenle squeezed his eyes against the force. When he opened them again, he was met with a cold presence radiating from in front of Renjun. The cause of it was a male figure, tall and glowing blue, just transparent enough to see the wall behind him. His face was gaunt and there were scratches on his thinned out face. His hair was dark and carefully swept away from his forehead, showing his piercing eyes clearly. A ghost, Chenle recognizes.

  The figure didn't move at all for a few seconds, and neither did they. They stared at each other, unwavering.

  The ghost lunged forward, icy, thin hand wrapping around Renjun's wrist. He yelled and pulled away, hard, but the ghost didn't yield.

  "Renjun!" Donghyuck yelled, stomping his foot on the ground, hard.

  Renjun yanked against the ghost again, something like a sob escaping his throat, and Chenle was overwhelmed with the feeling of falling. Donghyuck had opened a portal right through the floor and into the dormitory hallway below. Renjun's pulling was successful enough that his fall pulled him away from the ghost. Chenle scrambled off the ground before pulling Donghyuck to his feet and following Jeno in his sprint towards the door.

  Renjun flung it open and let all of them through before following, leaping down the stairs two at a time. The banging of their feet on the steel echoed the pounding in Chenle's veins. All he thought was _run, run, run_.

  There was a loud creaking noise on the staircase when Chenle finally reached the bottom, and he whipped around to see the smooth railing of the stairs bending seemingly on its own. It ripped from the bolts holding it in place. "Jeno!" Chenle called cautiously, watching him attempt to reach the bottom before the railing caged him against the wall. There was hardly a two-foot space between the wall and the railing. He was going to be stuck there, what would they _do-_

  Renjun grabbed Jeno's bicep and put his foot on the railing as it approached. He waited for Jeno to follow before he jumped off and landed on the bottom floor with Chenle and Donghyuck.

  They all scrambled through the door and back into the cramped lobby with the uncomfortable chairs and through the door to the outside.

  "Are we okay?" Donghyuck asked. Chenle turned around wildly to make sure everyone was there. Jeno was catching his breath, shaking from fear while Donghyuck smoothed his hand comfortingly along his back. Renjun looked up at the building suspiciously. Chenle touched his hand to his own chest as if verifying his own life. His heart was beating uncontrollably in his chest, but it was beating, and he was alive.

  "We're not safe," Renjun said, voice full of panic.

  It was only verified by the view of the ghost phasing through the wall of the dorm building.

  They all scrambled backwards away from it, but Chenle blinked and Jeno was kicking away from the ghost desperately, his hands pulling him back away from the group.

  Renjun landed a calculated kick to the ghost's face, but his foot phased through and Jeno let out a pained cry. Renjun tried again, this time yelling loudly before making contact, and the ghost flew backwards and let go of Jeno.

  "Let's go!" Renjun said, sprinting around towards the back of the main building.

  "Shouldn't we be going back?" Donghyuck yelled in return, following quickly.

  "He's going to kill somebody," Jeno hissed.

  "Is it gonna be us?" Chenle worried allowed.

  " _No,"_ Renjun assured him, finally stopping to look around. "If we don't find out how to get rid of him, somebody is going to die, and we need to prevent that at all costs."

  "We need an exorcism," Donghyuck said.

  "Chenle, do you know how to… do that?" Jeno asked.

  Chenle sighed. "I mean, yeah, in theory, I had to research it for a class-"

  "Please," Renjun said. "What do you need?"

  "I need a Bible," Chenle said, wracking his brain for the steps. He just needed to _remember_ , this was what he needed to do. He could do it.

  "I can't summon one of those!" Donghyuck complained.

  "There's got to be a lot of them here," Jeno said. "I'll go look-"

  " _No splitting up,"_ Donghyuck spat.

  "We have to go together. And right now," Renjun said, turning around to see the ghost's glass-like form recovered and approaching them.

  Chenle, in a moment of realization, reached his hand into his messenger bag and closed his fist around a distinct spherical bottle, cool against his hand, so thin and delicate the he worried about accidentally breaking it. It was a standard elixir, made of the blood of moles, ice-cold swamp mud, and salt, but he figured it might just work. He turned towards the ghost and threw it.

  It hit the wall beside the ghost's face and the ghost recoiled, holding his face in his hands. "Run!" Chenle yelled.

  "What was that?" Donghyuck asked between heavy breaths as the ran along the side of the main building.

  "Temporary blinding," Chenle answered, trying not to slip on the wet grass. "It'll wear off soon, so we have to be fast."

  They made it back towards the front of the school, and Chenle led them as he rushed up the massive staircase to the large oak doors. He pulled on the massive handles. Locked.

  "Fuckin' hell," Donghyuck mumbled, punching the door. The wood shook from the force, the loud sound reverberating through the building within. From his fist bloomed a flat black portal. Chenle didn't hesitate to jump through it.

  He figured they had made it to the inside of the school, judging by the doors they were now on the other side of. The floor was solid-colored white tile, reflecting the light from the stained glass window above. A balcony ran along the walls, showing the second floor, with a large staircase in the center of the lobby leading up to it. Aside from the large crosses on the three walls, it looked like any normal high school - not that Chenle was too familiar with those. Unhelpfully, it wasn't full of Bibles from floor to ceiling.

  Despite what Donghyuck may have said about not splitting up, he immediately sprinted into a side hallway and punched his way through a classroom door, so emerging with a heavy, leather-bound book. "Got one."

  "I don't think we have much time," Renjun said, glancing around. "We have to go as quickly as possible."

  Chenle's brain scrambled as he placed the Bible down on the tile floor and quickly scrambled to kneel in front of it. He leaned forward, placing both his hands in the cover, and let his forehead rest just centimeters above the hard ground. He wracked his brain for words.

  "Kyrie Eleison," he began. "God, our Lord, King of ages, all-powerful and all-mighty-"

  "...if you don't believe in God, is this even going to work?" Donghyuck asked. Chenle squeezed his eyes shut.

  "It's the best bet we have right now!" Renjun scolded.

  "And Lucifer," Chenle continued, "You who was tossed from Heaven and treats us kindly. Both are the salvation of those who turn to them… we beseech you to powerless, banish, and drive out every diabolical power, presence, and machination-"

  "He's here," Renjun said quietly, his loud footsteps filling the space. "Chenle, keep going!"

  He was panicking, obviously, his fingers shaking where they weren't harshly pushed against the book, but he forced himself to continue talking. "I-I will not fear evil because you are with me! Lord Our God and Lucifer, whoever shall possess the power and mercy to protect us, we ask you through this prayer of our most blessed Mother of God and all your saints-"

  His voice hesitated at Donghyuck's distinctive scream, and lifted his head up.

  The ghost was floating high up towards the second floor, Renjun levitating across from him in an attempt to distract him from Chenle. It wasn't working, evidently, as the ghost still had his eyes trained on Chenle. Donghyuck was standing defensively between them while Jeno sat in front of him, hands over his head.

  The ghost was throwing things at them the clanking of the summoned knives and spears becoming louder with the added visual. Chenle scrambled away. Donghyuck opened yet another small, temporary portal, making a knife vanish. "Chenle, finish! Do something!"

  Chenle's throat was dry. Jeno looked at him with desperate eyes. The clanging was only becoming more frequent, the ghost's sculpted face becoming more and more enraged and Donghyuck and Renjun foiled his attempts.

  Chenle was paralyzed by the sound of a glowing transparent javelin whipping past his head before hitting the ground and dissipating. The ghost's aim had grown better, and Donghyuck was slouching over in apparent weakness. "I don't think… the exorcism… was good for me," he mumbled. "I'm so sorry."

   Donghyuck fell to the ground on his knees, defeated, and Chenle's lungs screamed in protest at the sight. Jeno hiccuped, brushing tears away from his face, narrowly dodging an arrow as he pulled Chenle close to his chest.

  "Please… please trust me… and forgive me, Lele," Jeno whispered.

  Chenle blinked.

  "Please say you trust me."

  "I trust you," he struggled out.

  Jeno pushed him hard into an oncoming longsword sent hurtling through the air at a million miles per hour, and it felt like a dull hammer had just been smashed into his chest.

  "What the _fuck,_ Jeno!" Renjun cried.

  He hardly registered Jeno's hands above his chest, his tears falling on Chenle's sweat-soaked face.

  "Can't you save him?" Renjun screeched, a sob ripping through his own voice. _Don't cry_ , Chenle thought.

  "I pushed him so I could save him," Jeno explained through heavy breaths. "We can resurrect him this way, bet he died because of me. Not because of himself."

  "You… you selfless idiot," Renjun mumbled, falling to his knees beside Chenle.

  Chenle looked down at his own blood-soaked clothes and deep, red wound, the sword still buried in his chest. It was weird. He couldn't believe it was happening.

  "Lele," Renjun struggled out. "Are you with us?"

  "Don't cry, Renjunnie," he managed with a small laugh. He should be upset. He's dying. _I'm dying._ But he wasn't. Anyway, he still trusted Jeno.

  "We're gonna bring you back," Renjun explained, leaning forward to press a small kiss to his forehead. "You'll be back this time tomorrow, okay? Hang in there."

  Chenle's vision was growing heavy, and he was exhausted. It'd be so easy to go to sleep there on the white tile floor and let it swallow him whole.

  He remembered the exorcism, still incomplete and hanging in the air. "Amen," he finished, as loud as he could manage.

  Chenle watched as the ghost faded from few, a pained expression on his face. He smiled. "I did it," he cheered quietly, turning his gaze back towards Jeno's face above him and the way it was illuminated by the moonlight refracting through the stained glass window. It wasn't such a bad last thing to see before he died for the first time, he figured. One of his best friends.

  "You did, you did," Jeno said. "Renjun, go check on Donghyuck, I'll…"

  Renjun nodded and hurried towards Donghyuck, who was passed out on the floor. "Is he okay?" Chenle asked.

  "He'll be fine," Jeno said. "Now, you… you should get some sleep."

  Chenle nodded. It sounded good. Very good. Sleep. He closed his eyes and was suddenly overwhelmed with a wave of panic.

_What… is happening? Am I… No, no, no, this can't be real…_

"See you soon," came Jeno's soothing reply, and Chenle let himself breathe and calm down. He'd be back, and soon. He'd always wanted to meet Lucifer. He delighted in the way the endorphins rid him of the aching in his chest and painted skies behind his eyelids.

  And he slept.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> He really is gonna come back! He's my main character, y'all. I'm really unfamiliar with writing these kinds of scenes, so I hope it wasn't too bad. Thank you for reading!
> 
> I'm sorry I haven't been replying to all your comments, but I promise to do better! All of your support really means the world to me and it gives me the motivation to keep writing this. So, thanks.


	5. To Hell and Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's only been one day.  
> We get out of school soon, so we don't do anything in class, so I worked on this! It's possibly my favorite chapter so far, even though it's a little short. There's a lot of information to absorb. I hope you enjoy!

 

_Disaster will come upon you, and you will not know how to conjure it away. A calamity with fall upon you that you cannot ward off with a ransom. Keep on, then, with your magic spells and with your many sorceries, which you have labored at since childhood. Perhaps you will succeed, perhaps you will cause terror. (Isaiah 47:11-12)_

 

The feeling of molten rock around his entire body was scalding, but strangely comforting in its warmth. Chenle's immediate thought was that _huh. This isn't so bad._ Of course, all good things must come to an end, and that includes drowning peacefully for eternity in a boiling lake. He felt his body floating up towards the surface and soon felt the colder - but still extremely warm - air on his eyelids.

  It smelled like smoke and burnt steak. It was bitter and ever-present. Still, for being Hell, it wasn't the burning that the Bible claimed he deserved, so he was grateful for that much. He reached his hand out of the lava to pat the sparks out of his hair as he sat up.

  The sky was a deep lead-gray, full of swirling clouds. The shore of the lava pool he was in was a dark and rocky island, jagged and uninviting in comparison to the warm, glowing sea around it. At the center of the island was a throne, which was more of an assortment of carefully placed rocks than anything. Chenle's eyes settled on the… _thing_ sitting on it.

  He didn't know what it was. It was semi-transparent and iridescent, some combination of smoke and brick and glass, constantly morphing each time Chenle managed to define its features. It was unsettling, but he couldn't stop watching it.

  In front of the throne and the strange figure stood a familiar, tall, dark-haired man, his back to Chenle.

  "Johnny Seo."

  The sound seemed to both boom throughout the whole universe and materialize from Chenle's own thoughts. He figured it was the thing on the throne speaking, though he couldn't trace the voice.

  "You died years ago," the voice continued, seemingly amused.

  "Some _kid,_ " the man, Johnny, answered, his voice much more human but very hoarse, "performed an exorcism. I'll be back up there soon."

  The figure laughed, and it filled Chenle's blood with ice. "Is this place really so unpleasant such that you rather be up there and incomplete than down here?"

  "Yes," Johnny hissed. "I wasn't supposed to go to Hell, Satan."

  Chenle's brain pieced all the clues together at once. The ghost had been banished back to Hell. Chenle really had succeeded.

  "I admire your exercise of control," Lucifer answered. "But you've done plenty of things to deserve being here."

  Johnny chuckled emptily. "Only now. Never at first."

  "God isn't as fair as you believe," Lucifer said. "He knows how you feel inside your heart, and he knows how you despise him."

  "It doesn't matter anymore. I'm not staying here."

  "Zhong Chenle."

  Chenle jumped and scrambled to the coast of the rocky island, climbing up on to the rough land. He patted out the fires on his bloodied and torn sweatshirt with his hands. He felt compelled to stand beside Johnny, in front of Lucifer, so he did. The ghost didn't scare him anymore. He was just a person. An evil one, of course, who made Chenle's blood boil hotter than the sweltering heat around them, but he was _just_ a person.

  "You killed a kid? Really?"

  No matter what Chenle thought Lucifer's speech patterns would be like, it certainly wasn't like this.

  Johnny clicked his tongue. "It's more complicated than that."

  "With all due respect, Johnny Seo," Chenle said, looking at him through the corner of his eye, "you literally stabbed me."

  "I intended to injure you, not _kill you_ ," Johnny explained, exasperated.

  "That makes no sense. Also, you still killed me."

  "Your friend took responsibility for your death," Lucifer said, questioningly. "That boy. Lee Jeno. The healer."

  Chenle nodded, facing the swirling thing again.

   "See, you'll be able to be resurrected because you were murdered by both me and your friend in cold blood," Johnny said.

   "Why do you think that means you did nothing wrong?" Chenle retorted, crossing his arms.

  "Awful sassy, aren't you?" Johnny taunted.

  "Being killed will do that to you."

  "Chenle," Lucifer said. Chenle turned back to the throne yet again. Now he seemed to be invisible. It hurt his brain to think about.

   "That was the most interesting exorcism I've ever seen, and I applaud you. People don't tend to call on both me _and_ God."

  "Did it… work?" Chenle asked.

  "Surprisingly," Lucifer answered with a small laugh. "God still loves you, and you've done your magic well. You're playing a double agent of sorts."

  Chenle nodded. He felt useful. Accomplished. He smiled.

  "Will my friends really be able to save me?" Chenle asked.

  "See for yourself," Lucifer said. The figure didn't stir, but Chenle somehow knew where he had pointed, and turned towards a land bridge leading off of the island and through the lava moat. The bridge led to a large mass of land, and just beyond the coast was a lake of what looked to be water. Chenle didn't see how it hadn't evaporated into nothing, but he didn't question it. There were several human figures sitting around it, staring into its depths with varied expressions. Chenle started down the land bridge, leaving Lucifer and Johnny behind to, presumably, continue their bickering.

  He stepped carefully through the rough terrain before he settled down and sat beside the clear pool.

  He felt the weight of a hand on his shoulder and flinched.

  "It's just me."

  Chenle looked up at Hendery and beamed. "Good to see you here," Hendery said, smiling and sitting beside him.

  "Is it? It's not so good to be here," Chenle joked.

  "Not really, I just meant I've missed you. I watched what happened."

  "Hah. Yeah."

  "You did well," Hendery said honestly. "Some of what you guys did is really stupid, but… I admire all of you."

  "Thank you," Chenle said, pride in his voice. "And now I get to bully Jeno about the time he literally killed me."

  "He meant well," Hendery answered with a laugh. "And Lucifer won't hold him accountable for that one."

  "He won't?"

  "Lucifer isn't non discriminant. Jeno's gonna end up here anyway, of course, but there are parts of this place that are much, much worse."

  "That's… nice," Chenle said. "What is this?" he asked, pointing at the pool of water.

  "Name-wise, we all call it different things. But if you ask it about someone in the land of the living, it will show you what they're doing," Hendery explained.

  Chenle looked into its clear surface with wide eyes. "Really? Can I just… say a name?"

  "Yep."

  "Huang Renjun," Chenle said to the water. For a second, nothing happened, and he felt very stupid.

  The water rippled before colors and shapes began to form on its surface, showing a scene from above the street.

  Chenle's three friends were walking quickly across the road, away from St. Marjorie's and towards the academy. Donghyuck was leaning on Renjun's shoulder, threatening to fall over, while Jeno carried both Chenle's messenger bag and his bloodied corpse. Chenle touched the stab wound still in his chest. It was odd to see himself from the third person, but even weirder to see himself very clearly dead. Jeno's face was red and puffy from tears, and Renjun looked numb. "Let's go," Renjun urged, teeth clenched.

   Jeno quickened his pace as he walked up the few stairs to the doors, and Renjun tapped the code into the panels. He pushed the door open and jumped off his feet, floating delicately a few inches from the ground. "Headmaster Kun!" he cried. Chenle watched in fascination as the spiral staircase straightened out, leading up to a white door Chenle had never seen before.

  "Can we not… revive him ourselves?" Jeno asked, looking down at the body in his arms.

  "We're in too deep," Renjun answered. "Give."

  Jeno handed over Chenle's limp corpse and Renjun levitated up the stairs. Jeno followed quickly, helping Donghyuck up, and pounded on the door. "Headmaster Kun!" he sobbed.

  Chenle wiped away tears he didn't know he was shedding.

  "H-headmaster!" Jeno yelled again.

  The door swung open. Kun was standing in the doorway wearing a black witch's robe over sweatpants and a t-shirt, dark hair messy from sleep, presumably.

   "He's… he's dead," Renjun struggled out, holding tighter to Chenle. "We know we can bring him back. Please, just… help us."

   Kun unfroze, taking Chenle from Renjun's arms and hurrying down the staircase. "Is Donghyuck okay?" he asked.

  "I don't know," Jeno answered, following after him. "Chenle performed an exorcism and he's been like this."

   "Why did Chenle perform an _exorcism?"_

"It's a long story, headmaster."

   Kun pushed the front door open and lead them towards the courtyard with the large, white crystal in the center. The moonlight was refracted harshly through it, hitting the concrete underneath it. Kun hurried over towards it and placed Chenle down on the ground. How uncomfortable for his dead body, really. He'd have to yell at Kun for it when he got back.

  Kun dragged his fingers carefully across Chenle's chest, collecting the blood on his fingers and holding it under the concentrated beam of moonlight. "Is this going to work?" Jeno asked, voice full of worry.

  "It will," Kun answered. "I've done this before."

  Chenle couldn't see what was happening, but when Kun pulled away, the wound was shining silver. "This is gonna sound weird," Kun said, standing up, "but one of you just has to grovel for a while and ask Lucifer to send him back."

  "I got it," Jeno said, lifting Chenle up. "I'll take him to the dorm."

  Renjun nodded. "I'll help. And carry Donghyuck. I guess."

  "Donghyuck really needs to rest," Kun warnes. "If what you said is true, you almost banished the spirits within him that let him do magic at all. If we're lucky, they'll come back."

  "If not?" Renjun asked, wrapping Donghyuck's arm around his owns shoulders.

  "He won't be a witch anymore," Kun said. "But let's hope for the best."

  Renjun nodded, and Jeno began to walk back to the dorm tower. "Wait," Kun said.

  "As soon as he's alive again, we need to talk about whatever happened."

  "Are we gonna be in trouble?" Jeno asked.

  "Depends," Kun said simply. He took long strides back up to the main school building.

  Chenle turned away from the vision and looked back at Hendery.

  "What, you're not going to watch them talk about how much they miss you?" he asked.

  "That sounds sad. And weird," Chenle answered, scooting away from the lake. The scene faded.

  "How long until I'll be back?" Chenle questioned.

  "I'd say no more than a day," he answered. "Depends how hard Jeno grovels."

  "Lucifer knows I'm leaving," Chenle said. "He's ready to send me back already."

  "Well, you're required to stay down here for a certain amount of time, to learn your lesson or whatever," Hendery explained. "So you can stay here with me."

  "And with Johnny," Chenle said, gesturing to the tall (former) ghost, still over on Lucifer's island.

  "He's the one who killed you?"

  "Yeah."

  "I know him," Hendery said.

  "You what?" Chenle balked, looking at Hendery's amused expression.

  "He went to St. Marjorie's at the same time as Ten went to Huang's."

  "Doesn't Ten still go to Huang's?" Chenle asked.

  "Have you _ever_ seen him in class?"

  "...why is he always there, then?"

  Hendery laughed. "He's an expert in really dark magic. Spooky stuff like that. Necromancy, mind-control, curses, the works. They keep him around in case any of that stuff goes on."

  "Ah. What does that have to do with Johnny, though? Didn't you go to school then, too?"

  "Well… Johnny loved Ten. And Ten loved him. They wrote notes to each other. Ten used portals to send his, and Johnny would leave them in the same place every day so Ten could find them. They snuck out to see each other, stuff like that."

  "But… Johnny is Catholic," Chenle said.

  "That's where the problem arose. As soon as Ten admitted his feelings and Johnny admitted his, Johnny kinda… lost it. In a sort of religious shame spiral."

  "Really…?"

  Hendery smiled sadly. "The one thing Johnny wanted more than to be with Ten was to go to heaven. He was murdered, actually, shoved from the top of the dormitory building by his homophobic roommate. I guess he just never came to terms with it."

  "That doesn't explain why he's been trying to murder people."

  "I don't have all the answers, Lele," Hendery said, standing up. He held out his hand to help Chenle up as well.

  "Professor Kun is involved now," Chenle said simply.

  "Yeah. Which means doing any further investigation into this will be extremely difficult to do."

  Chenle groaned. "That _sucks_! We were finally getting somewhere!"

  Hendery laughed. "I think you'll all find a way."

  "We have to," Chenle said seriously. "I… I mean, we saved them tonight, but what about the future?"

  Hendery shrugged. "Getting rid of ghosts is gonna be hard without murdering Hyuck. But I think you can do it."

  "Thanks, Hendery."

  "Anytime, Lele."

  "Zhong Chenle!"

  Chenle jumped at the voice reverberating around his cranium and turned towards Lucifer. "Come here," he continued.

  Chenle made eye contact with Hendery, who shrugged and gave a large smile. He started back towards the island.

  "They've already started the resurrection," Lucifer boomed.

  "Yes."

  "You'll be heading back soon, Chenle. I admire your friendships."

  "Thank you, uh... Mr. Satan."

  Chenle could feel the disappointment in the air.

 

»»---------------------►

 

  The air smelled like blood. Or maybe Chenle smelled like blood. Either way, it was metallic and uncomfortable and decisively not as warm Hell. One second he had been talking to Hendery, being shown around the foggy and featureless landscape, and the next second his head was pounding and he remembered how heavy it was to be alive. He stretched his arms and winced at the pain in his chest. "Lele!"

  He laughed at the weight of Jeno's body on top of his. He hugged him back, but his limbs were weak from lack of use. Jeno separated quickly. "I have to call Renjun and Hyuck! They're out at class right now."

  "Can you… fix this first?" Chenle asked, gesturing to the scabbed over (but still painful) silver stab wound on his chest. His sweatshirt was torn to show it and stuck to the skin with clotted blood. Jeno nodded.

  He quickly healed the wound and stepped away. "Stay here, I'll go get-"

  The door slammed open, revealing a very concerned looking Renjun. "I felt magic!" he proclaimed. His eyes met Chenle's and he beamed. "Nice to have you back."

  Chenle nodded and smiled back.

  Soon Donghyuck barrelled through a portal in the far wall and joined them, nearly crushing Chenle in a hug before sitting down on his own bed.

  "You met Lucifer, huh?" Donghyuck asked. "How is he?"

  Chenle squinted as he searched his brain. He remembered knowing he met Lucifer. He remembered the things he said, even. Still, the way he looked at the way his voice sounded totally escaped his memories as if they had had never been there in the first place. "He's nicer than you would think," he said.

  "What happened while you were there?" Renjun asked. "Did you learn anything?"

  Chenle told them about Hell, Johnny, Lucifer, Hendery, the strange lake, everything. They all listened intently and stayed silent for a few seconds after he finished.

  "Would… would Ten know anything about Johnny if we asked him?" Jeno asked.

  "Maybe," Chenle said, standing up to pace around the room. "I should go talk to him."

  "We… were supposed to go talk to Kun as soon as you woke up," Renjun said.

  "...then that first," Chenle said.

  Kun is a calm person, and older than time itself, so Chenle should have figured he wouldn't get angry after hearing their story. Still, the way he stared at them and sighed blankly was somehow more unsettling than yelling and Chenle didn't like it. "Sneaking out of the dorms after hours is a punishable offense in itself," Kun explained patiently. "You all snuck out in order to trespass, which is more of a legal issue than anything, so we'll overlook that. Other than that… everything you did was self-defense and quiet intuitive."

  "What?" Jeno asked.

  Donghyuck laughed in disbelief. "Was… was that a compliment?"

  "I'm not saying what you did was smart," Kun said, leaning back in his office chair. "In fact, it was very… _very_ stupid. Frankly, unbelievable. I pray to Lucifer you'll never do it again. But nothing you did was technically against school rules other than sneaking out."

  "Huh," Chenle said eloquently.

  "You all have detention after school on Thursday," Kun said.

  "But, Headmaster-"

  "Even you, Renjun."

  He huffed and the four of them all walked out of the office and out of the school building.

  "We escaped alive!" Donghyuck cheered.

  Chenle whooped along with him. This was usually when Donghyuck would produce a portal for them to quickly return to their dorm room, but he didn't even attempt it.

  "Uh, Hyuck?" Jeno asked.

  "I don't have any powers right now," Donghyuck griped, wiggling his fingers uselessly. "I think I'm full of evil spirits or something and Chenle banished them."

  "Kun said they'd most likely come back," Chenle said. "And if they don't… I can do a ritual to try to bring them back."

  "A _reverse_ exorcism," Renjun said incredulously.

  "That sounds dangerous," Jeno pointed out.

  Chenle shrugged. "I've already died once."

  Donghyuck laughed. "There's probably no need. If anyone can attract more evil, it's me."

  Chenle giggled and linked his arm with Donghyuck's as they walked up towards the dorm room.

  "I'm hungry," Chenle complained as soon as he got through the door. "They don't have food in Hell."

  "They don't?" Donghyuck asked, mouth wide. "I'm converting religions, fuck this." He flopped down on his mattress heavily.

  "Language," Jeno said noncommittally.

  "I can't believe I have to serve a detention," Renjun complained.

  "Detention is the great equalizer," Donghyuck said with mock wisdom behind his words.

  "I thought that was death," Chenle said.

  "Eh, who's to say?"

  "I want food," Chenle repeated.

  "There's a McDonald's down the street," Jeno said blankly.

  "Are you suggesting that we sneak out _again_?" Renjun balked.

  "The difference is," Donghyuck said, standing up, "this time, we aren't going to get caught. _And_ Chenle isn't going to die."

  "Unless it's from heart disease," Jeno snorted.

  "Clog my arteries. I'm prepared," Chenle proclaimed, holding his fist in the air.

  "I want fries!" Donghyuck declared with the same enthusiasm.

  Halfway out the door, Jeno turned. "Renjunnie, you coming?"

  He grumbled a little to himself before following them all out of the building.

  It felt weird to be walking down the sidewalk, joking with his friends, on the way to consume enough food to put them all into comas for the foreseeable future, when Chenle had been dead less than twenty four hours ago, lying on the floor of a Catholic school he didn't even go to with a sword in his chest. Life went on. Even in the face of witches and religion and resurrection, Chenle and his friends managed to find time to just… be crackheads, for lack of a better term.

  Thirty minutes later, Donghyuck was shoveling french fries into his mouth while hanging upside down off his bed. Chenle laughed when he choked.

  "Listen," Donghyuck said, taking a drink from his milkshake. "All this food… will help me regain my health."

  "It's gonna summon your spirits back?" Renjun laughed.

  "Yeah, I'm still reeling at the fact that you are half-possessed most of the time," Chenle said.

  "Honestly, I didn't really know it worked like that, either," Donghyuck shrugged.

  "At least now we know that the idiot part is all Hyuck," Jeno added.

  Hyuck threw a fry across the room at him, inevitably missing and hitting Renjun, who was sitting on the floor. Renjun rolled his eyes, willing the fry back across the room and into Donghyuck's mouth. Donghyuck smiled in satisfaction.

  "Oh, Lele," Jeno said. "Were you gonna head out tonight to see Jisung?"

  Chenle had almost completely forgotten about Jisung. He hoped he hadn't waited for him the night before when Chenle was, unfortunately, stuck in Hell. He had a lot of things to tell him. Retelling the same story again would only be worth it to see Jisung's reaction. Even though most of the story was, actually, quite sad. And knowing there was a murderous ghost in his school would almost certainly _not_ make him feel better.

  "I dunno," Chenle answered.

  "Go get your mans," Donghyuck mumbled through a mouthful of food.

  "He's _not_ my mans."

   "Even if he's just your friend," Jeno said helpfully, "you should go and talk to him."

  "Mmmm comfy." Chenle was making excuses, he knew. He also knew he wouldn't get away with it.

  "Nope, get out of here," Renjun said, leaning back. "Break yet another rule. What are they gonna do? You've already been to Hell."

  "One, I'm actually breaking the same rule over and over again. Second, you make it sound way cooler than it was," Chenle joked, standing up and brushing crumbs off his clothes.

  "Go, go, go!" Donghyuck cheered as Chenle pulled on his jacket and stepped out of the room.

  He crept down the stairs and threw open the door to the outside and was met with a surprised, tall figure.

  "Uh, Headmaster Kun!" Chenle greeted. "So weird… to see you here!"

  Kun raised an eyebrow. "Chenle, go back to your room."

  "I'm not going anywhere dangerous," he tried, giving his best _do whatever I say because I'm cute_ smile.

  Kun said nothing, but didn't move.

  "I'll serve an extra detention?"

  Kun shook his head and laughed. "I… must be crazy." He stepped aside. "Stay safe, Chenle."

  "You got it, Kun!"

  Chenle skipped out towards the park and leaped over the wall, touching down a lot more gracefully on the other side than he had previously. He made his way towards the path and looked around the large, open space.

  Jisung was nowhere to be seen, so Chenle figured he just hadn't gotten there yet. He sat in a relatively untouched patch of dew-covered grass and waited.

  It took around twenty minutes before Chenle gave up and climbed back over the wall.

  He told himself that no, he wasn't disappointed. Jisung was mostly likely just busy or tired. Maybe he didn't have the same luck sneaking out of his dorm as Chenle did. Maybe he didn't want to talk to Chenle anymore. Maybe. Whatever was going on, Chenle was certainly not upset.

  When his friends asked about it, he shrugged it off and let them continue their very intense conversation about what they would use three wishes for (Donghyuck wanted to wish for more wishes, Jeno insisted that was against the rules, and Renjun wished for his friends to have at least one hundred collective IQ points). Chenle wished that Jeno would never murder him again. Phase one of the guilt trip had begun.

  Chenle worried about what had happened to Jisung, once his initial selfish thoughts drifted away. Was Johnny back? Was he killing more students? How long would it be before they had to return? (They promised Kun not to, sure, but they couldn't just do that.) Would Ten even have any answers?

  The more Chenle found out, the more questions he had, and they all swarmed around his head, blocking out any thought that may lead to the answer. On top of that, he was two days behind in school work.

  Chenle drifted off to sleep with his brain doing anything but resting.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've been reading a book about literary analysis, so there's a lot of deeper stuff in this story now, if you want to read into it hahah. Still, I hope you're enjoying so far! See you next time~
> 
> Also, I can't seem to decide between being funny or being serious. I hope that doesn't bother anyone-


	6. Square One

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "This isn't what I wanted at all."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back, everyone! My plot is now kind of figured out. So be prepared for faster updates, and enjoy!

_   Let no one be found among you who practices divination or sorcery, interprets omens, or engages in witchcraft, or casts spells, or who is a medium or spiritist or who consults the dead. Anyone who does these things is detestable to the Lord. (Deuteronomy 18:10-12) _

 

__ "What about Johnny?"

  Ten still looked and sounded confident, but something shifted behind his eyes that Chenle couldn't quite place.

  Chenle had found Ten through Jungwoo's help, having to take calculated steps around the stone courtyard before a portal opened in the center, leading to where he now stood. In a  _ cemetery.  _ It wasn't the ideal place to be on an early Wednesday morning, unless you were a twenty-something necromancer with a flare for drama like a certain someone. It was dark and gloomy, clouds covering the already risen sun, and full of moss-covered tombstones. He wanted to ask what Ten was doing there, but he didn't know if he wanted the answer.

  "I… you know I died, right?"

  Ten nodded. "I'm well aware. I worried about you a lot, kid."

  Chenle smiled lightly. "Yeah, well. I was killed by a ghost. Over at St. Marjorie's."

  "Oh."

  "The ghost's name is Johnny Seo. Hendery told me you… knew him," Chenle finished.

  Ten ran a hand through his dark hair and laughed breathily, sadily, as if remembering a million things Chenle would never know. "It's just like him to not have moved on," he mused.

  "Is it like him to try to murder high school students?"

  "Not at all," Ten said. "That's… new. There has to be a reason for it."

  "Well, you're kind of an expert on dead people," Chenle said, shoving his hands in his back pockets. "I thought you would know."

  "Is he trying to lay himself at rest?" Ten asked.

  "He seemed very against that when we spoke. He doesn't get to go to heaven, and I don't think he likes it."

  Ten ran a hand over his face. "It's all my fault, God, I…"

  Chenle waited for him to continue.

  "I loved him," Ten said finally, shoulders slumping in defeat. He took a few paces around the dead grass lawn. "And he loved me. He hated himself for that."

  "He shouldn't have," Chenle said.

  "I mean, I guess his fears were valid, right? He didn't get to heaven. And it's because he loved me."

  "You can't blame yourself," Chenle said, taking a hesitant step towards him. "It… he really wouldn't have been punished in Hell, you know."

  "I know."

  "He's still just coping with it."

  Ten nodded in understanding. "But… you said he doesn't want to rest?"

  "Yeah."

  "So whatever he's doing, he must be trying to stick around," Ten observed. "He must be working against whatever would let him rest."

  "No offense," Chenle said, "But if that's true, Johnny is maybe the dumbest person alive."

  "He  _ isn't  _ alive."

  Chenle rolled his eyes. "Still. You know what I mean." 

  "Yeah. Anyway, did you need anything else?"

  "Well. I was kind of hoping you could help us get rid of him for good."

  "I'm not super good at getting rid of the dead, Lele. I bring them back."

  Chenle sighed. "Please? You know more about him than anyone and, frankly, we don't have a lot of choices."

  Ten rolled his eyes. "Do you… you got killed there, and you want to go  _ back?" _

__ Chenle nodded.

  "You have a personal stake in this," Ten noticed.

  "I used to be Catholic. I just care."

  "There's something else."

  Chenle huffed. Why was it that  _ everyone _ could see through him? "There's a boy I'm friends with."

  Ten smiled sadly. "I hope he isn't the same was Johnny was."

  Instead of clarifying or complaining, Chenle just nodded. "Me too."

  "I guess I can help you," Ten said, rolling his shoulders back. "We really can't have those Bible thumpers dying on us."

  Chenle laughed.

  "Any ideas?" Ten asked.

  "...not really? That's kind of Donghyuck's and Renjun's job."

  Ten's eyebrows furrowed in amusement. "You four really are a mess."

  "We never claimed otherwise."

  Ten turned back around to trace his finger along a tombstone. "I'll have to do some research. Maybe I'll summon Johnny to talk with him, but I doubt he'd like that very much. Still, we'll be heading back into St. Marjorie's by the time he gets over all that exorcism stuff."

  "He'll be back soon. It was a pretty bad exorcism," Chenle admitted.

  "You're a  _ witch _ . And you performed an exorcism. It's unheard of, Lele."

  "Oh, I don't know-"

  "Accept my praise!" Ten demanded, turning around quickly and pointing at him threateningly. They quickly broke down in giggles.

  "Seriously, kid, you did great," Ten said. "And if the fact that I was really gay for a tall Catholic boy can help you… delinquents, I'll do whatever I can."

  " _ We're  _ delinquents? You are a  _ necromancer." _

__ "That I am."

  Chenle rolled his eyes. "Well, I'm gonna get out of here," he said, looking back towards the portal still opened a few feet behind him. "This place kinda creeps me out."

  Ten glanced around. "Understandable. I'll see you later. Catch me when that ghost stuff starts back up."

  "Will do. Bye, Ten!"

  "Bye, Lele."

  "Wait, one more thing," Chenle said, one foot already through the portal.

  Ten looked up and smiled.

  "Don't tell Kun."

  "Wouldn't dream of it."

  Chenle jumped through the portal and back into the courtyard.

 

»»---------------------►

 

  "Is it bad that I'm looking forward to Johnny coming back?"

  Chenle turned to look at Donghyuck. All four of them managed to have general sorcery together, and sit in a square of desks in the corner with their new seating assignment. (Professor Jeonghan must have either been very nice, very clueless, or very done with the school year already. Chenle bet on the last one.)

  None of them answered for a few seconds.

  "I mean," Jeno started. "Theoretically, it would be… very bad. People could die."

  Renjun hummed in recognition.

  "Yeah, but," Chenle said. He didn't continue.

  Silence fell upon them again and Chenle tapped his pencil against his desk, staring emptily at his worksheet. He was terrible at remembering Latin spells.

  "No, I want him to come back, I'm bored," Renjun admitted.

  Chenle nodded enthusiastically. "Yeah, me too."

  "I'm getting impatient," Jeno agreed.

  "Ugh, this  _ sucks!"  _ Donghyuck groaned, leaning back in his chair so far his nose brushed the back wall. "I went from fighting ghosts to doing worksheets. This is a serious downgrade."

  "Lee Donghyuck!" Jeonghan scolded.

  "Sorry!" Renjun apologized, probably knowing Donghyuck wouldn't.

  "I'm with you," Chenle said, resting his face in his hands. "I just want Ten to work his magic so we can do some cool stuff."

  "And hopefully keep anyone from dying this time," Jeno said.

  Renjun sighed. "Let's not get ahead of ourselves."

  "Do we even have a plan? We might as well make one if we can't actually do anything right now," Jeno suggested.

  Chenle glanced at Professor Jeonghan, making sure he wasn't paying attention, before turning around to face the other three. "Ten said that we have to find out whatever is keeping him from resting so that we can get rid of him for good. Since that exorcism thing definitely isn't going to work."

  "Well, Johnny died because… he was gay for Ten," Renjun clarified.

  Chenle shrugged. "Well. Because his homophobic roommate pushed him off a roof."

  Donghyuck scrunched his face up in thought. "Chenle, are you homophobic? Because once you pushed yourself off a roof-"

  "Shush!" Jeno said over the sound of Chenle's laughter.

  "Anyway," Renjun said, holding back laughter. "We know his wish has to do with being gay, being pushed off roofs, or… blasphemy?"

  "What else is there?" Donghyuck asked. "There's no explanation in there for why he's all bloodthirsty."

  "He hates that he went to Hell?" Chenle said. "That's most of what I know about him."

  Donghyuck slapped his desk and pointed at nothing in particular. "That's it. He's upset that God doesn't love him."

  "...is it just me who isn't following?" Jeno asked.

  "No, I don't understand how that helps," Renjun said.

  Chenle looked at Donghyuck questioningly.

  Donghyuck sighed and slumped down in his chair. "Yeah, it doesn't make any sense."

  "There should just be some bad guys we can fight or something," Chenle said wistfully, turning back around in his seat. "Because right now I have  _ no  _ clue what's going on."

  "This magic thing is complicated," Jeno complained.

  "Jeonghan's glaring," Renjun warned.

  They were all silent, just until he turned away again.

  "We're gonna get Ten to help us figure out what's going on. That's the next mission," Renjun said decisively.

  Chenle nodded. "We got this."

  "...but we still have to wait," Donghyuck said flatly.

  "Yes," Renjun confirmed.

  "Ugh."

  But they didn't have to wait, really. Chenle was about to climb out the window to wait for Jisung in the park when Renjun flew through the room to their dorm with a panicked expression. "The ghost. He's back. I can feel it."

  Donghyuck and Jeno stood immediately. "We have to go get Ten," Chenle said.

  "We need to go save whoever's being threatened by that ghost," Jeno said, pointing vaguely towards St. Marjorie's, through the wall.

  "And keep up the same cycle?" Chenle asked. "Thanks, but no thanks. I'm gonna go find him."

  He leaped down the staircase and out of the dorm building. It was a short walk to the courtyard where Ten was sitting in front of the moon crystal. "Ten! Johnny is back. We have to go. Now."

  " _ We?  _ I'm not letting you guys go, Chenle," Ten said, standing up and rushing too him. He put his hands on either side of Chenle's shoulders.

  "We have to," Chenle argued. "At least, we need to bring Jeno, because of his healing powers, and Renjun, because of his magic, and Hyuck will refuse to stay behind, and I just want to know-"

  "Okay, okay. Let's go. Hurry."

  Ten took long strides towards the road. St. Marjorie's was just as large and unmoving as always, unaffected by the forces within it.

  Chenle turned at the sound of strong, unnatural wind and saw Donghyuck climbing through a portal in thin air. "You got your powers back?" Chenle asked.

  "I know! Cool, isn't it?" Donghyuck celebrated.

  "We don't have time for this," Jeno urged, pushing them both slightly towards the illuminated sidewalk.

  "Renjun, you can feel this thing, right?" Ten asked.

  "Yeah."

  "Alright, kiddos," Ten said, taking a step into the street. "No one's getting hurt on my watch, so… be careful."

  They hurried across the road and Renjun lead them down the familiar dark side of the school to the dorm buildings. "He's weaker than he was," Renjun said, glancing around. "I've done some research, so I think… what I'm going to do might just work."

  "Is this about the moon crystal?" Chenle asked, crowding close to him.

  "Yes. Kind of."

  Renjun pointed towards a building right behind the main school. It was tall, with few windows, large doors, and only a small plate next to the entrance to mark it as the auditorium. Renjun pulled on the door and it opened.  _ Unlocked _ . As convenient as it was, it was unsettling.

  Ten pushed past to enter the building first. The lobby was small and had ugly beige tiling on the floor. Two doors at the front presumably lead down the aisles, and there was a hallway leading off to the right. Renjun hurried to pull open on of the front doors. Ten rushed quickly over to walk in front of him.

  "He's in there," Renjun said, pushing him back gently. "Are you sure about this?"

  "I'm an adult, Renjunnie. The only one here, in fact. Let me do this."

  Renjun sighed and let Ten walk through the door.

  Chenle hurried behind them, stopping when Jeno pulled him back by the back of his shirt. He looked around the room frantically.

  There were several dozen feet separating them from the stage, with a sea of seats between them. The closed maroon curtains swayed in the non-existent breeze. Donghyuck poised himself to conjure a portal. "I can get us out of here at any time. As soon as  _ anyone  _ is in serious danger, we are leaving."

  "Alright," Ten said, taking a careful step down the aisle.

  Chenle watched the curtains move and waited, hands shaking. He held onto Jeno's arm. Waited.

  The curtains were suddenly swept away entirely, and a familiar tall, semi-transparent figure stood on the stage. He was unmoving. He didn't even seem to acknowledge them standing there. Renjun lept to levitate above the ground and held his open palms out to Johnny before clenching them into tight fists.

  Johnny's form stiffened before he fell silently to his knees. Renjun floated closer to the stage and Chenle, Jeno, and Donghyuck hurried after him. Ten didn't move. He stood frozen, unsure. Chenle wrapped his hand around Ten's and tugged. Ten walked.

  "Renjun," Donghyuck whispered. "Where did you learn to  _ do  _ that?"

  "Research," Renjun answered, not ever looking away from Johnny.

  "Johnny," Ten said, quietly, voice far away.

  Johnny looked up slowly, face contorted in a pained smile. "Ten."

  Chenle felt like maybe he was intruding on something, on years of history and emotions and regret. He huddled closer to Jeno and Donghyuck.

  "You…  _ why,  _ Johnny?" Ten asked, taking a step up to the stage.

  Johnny sighed heavily and moved his shoulders. Renjun took in a sharp breath through his nose and squeezed his fists tighter.

  "You wouldn't understand," Johnny spat. His voice echoed around the room.

  "If anyone could understand, it's me," Ten said, finally setting foot on the surface of the stage.

  "No," Johnny said, lifting his head just enough to look Ten in the eyes. "You never believed in God."

  "God apparently never believed in you, either."

  Johnny didn't answer, just leaned forward to support himself with his hands flat on the wood floor.

  "Don't crush him, Renjun," Chenle advised.

  "Isn't that  _ kind of  _ what we came to do? We have to stop the ghost," Renjun answered tensely.

  "No, we came so we could find out how to stop the ghost," Donghyuck whispered.

  "I'm confused," Jeno said.

  "It's been five years since you died, Johnny. What are you still doing here?" Ten asked.

  "Avoiding Hell. I don't belong there," Johnny answered.

  "By trying to kill  _ children?"  _

  "I didn't mean to!" Johnny exclaimed. His voice was cold and desperate and tore up Chenle's eardrums as it reverberated around the walls. "I never wanted to kill anyone. You should know that."

  Ten took a step towards Johnny.

  "Ten, stand back," Renjun warned. "He's trying to escape. We're going to have to get out soon."

  "Why are you doing this?"

  "I am going to disappear from this place entirely if you don't let me go," Johnny said.

  "You need to rest. You don't deserve to suffer like this."

  "It's better than the alternative."

  "You know that isn't true."

  "Ten, stop acting like you know me."

  Ten sniffed and turned his face away. "I used to."

  Johnny managed to stomp his foot firmly on the ground to hoist himself up. Renjun tried to hold him back, arms quivering out of fear and concentration, but his control was waning.

  "Stop coming back here," Johnny demanded, digging his other foot into the floor. "You aren't going to change my mind."

  Renjun stumbled backwards, fists falling to his sides. Donghyuck held on to his shoulders to keep them both from falling over. Chenle watched as Johnny's form rose to float above the first row of auditorium seats.

  "Someone's gonna get hurt," Jeno said, tone dripping with worry. "We need to go. Now."

  "Someone has to get hurt," Chenle realized aloud.

  "Chenle."

  Despite the warning, he took a few stumbles down the aisle and towards Johnny.

  "You have to hurt us to stay here," Chenle noticed, staring up at him.

  Johnny didn't answer. Chenle swallowed hard.

  "Go on."

  Johnny slowly, painstakingly, touched down in the aisle several feet in front of him.

  "Chenle, you can't!" Ten protested. "I'll do it instead."

  "That's it, I'm getting all of us out of here," Donghyuck announced.

  "Don't!" Chenle exclaimed. "It'll only be worse if you don't let me do this."

  "Or me," Ten argued. "I'm the adult, Chenle."

  "It has to be him," Johnny said, voice surprisingly soft, pointing at Chenle.

  "What the Hell," Renjun asked, his voice far away.

  Chenle swallowed hard.

  Johnny held his hand up, palm towards the sky, and waited as an object materialized in his grasp. It was a dagger, glinting strangely in the low lighting in the auditorium. Johnny took a few steps closer to Chenle.

  "Is this what you wanted?" Chenle asked. Even in the moments before submitting to being not fatally stabbed, he was hoping he might be able to change his mind. Always worth a shot.

  Johnny's eyes glinted with something akin to regret as he steadied Chenle with an ice cold hand on his shoulder. "Go on," Chenle said, trying not to look at the knife in Johnny's hand.

  "This isn't what I wanted at all," Johnny said, quietly enough that Chenle had to strain to hear it, just a breath of words in between them and then there was a knife in Chenle's stomach.

  It hurt. Obviously. Chenle didn't even have to think the thought for it to register. He watched as Johnny and the weapon imbed in his own abdomen faded slowly from view.

  "Oh my God," Ten cursed, jumping in to stand in front of Chenle. He cradled his face softly in his hands. "Chenle, are you… are you okay?"

  "Yep, just great," Chenle answered sarcastically.

  "I got this," Jeno said, lowering him to sit on the stiff carpeted ground.

  "Chenle, what the  _ fuck  _ was that?" Donghyuck cursed, squatting down beside him.

  "He needs to hurt people," Chenle said, watching as Jeno poised his hands above the bleeding gash. "So I figured if he just hurt me, then it'd be over. At least for tonight."

  "I mean, it worked," Renjun said. "But this is not a long term solution."

  Ten nodded. "We aren't just going to let him keep stabbing you."

  "I know," Chenle said, reaching to hold on to Donghyuck's hand. "I'm not really up to do that again, either."

  Jeno finally removed his hands. "Okay. Do you feel better."

  "I feel fine."

  Ten rolled his eyes. "You were just stabbed."

  "And?"

  Donghyuck stood up and let go of Chenle's hand. "I'm opening a portal. We're all getting out of here."

  Ten helped Chenle to his feet. Other than the dizzy feeling in his brain from the loss of blood, he felt surprisingly okay, the pain from the stab reduced to a dull bruise-like throbbing that spread throughout most of his body. Maybe he was just going to pass out. "I may be about to pass out," he said.

  Ten pulled Chenle's arm around his shoulders to support him, but Ten was shorter, so Chenle's dead weight nearly sent them both sprawling across the floor. Jeno sighed and took Chenle from Ten awkwardly, all three of them fumbling before Jeno just offered Chenle a piggyback ride back to Hwang's. Chenle spent the walk with his chin buried in Jeno's warm shoulder.

  "How are we gonna help Johnny?" Chenle asked.

  "Are we trying to  _ help  _ the murderous ghost now?" Renjun asked as they finally set foot on their side of the sidewalk. 

  "The murderous ghost is the love of my life," Ten said. "He's just being ridiculous."

  "So, we find out for sure what his dying wish is, and we do it for him," Donghyuck said. "Easy, easy. Except he won't talk to us."

  "We have some information to work with," Renjun said. "But we shouldn't talk about it right now. Chenle needs to drink some water and eat something."

  "I wanna know  _ now,"  _ Donghyuck argued.

  "No," Jeno said, waiting as Donghyuck opened a portal in thin air, right underneath the streetlight. "We're all going to sleep."

_ Thunk. _

__ "Ow," Chenle said, rubbing where his head had hit the top of the portal after they stepped through it into their dorm room.

  "Sorry," Jeno mumbled as he let Chenle clamber off his back.

  Chenle changed out of his bloodied shirt as Jeno searched under his bed for snacks. He turned to see Donghyuck and Renjun staring at him.

  "Really guys, I'm fine," Chenle said.

  "You asked a ghost to stab you!" Donghyuck said. "I can't decide if it's cool or stupid!"

  "Why not both?" Chenle joked.

  Jeno handed him a granola bar and a water bottle. "It is  _ not  _ cool. It was brave."

  "Which is often another word for stupid," Renjun chimed in.

  Chenle tore open the granola bar and shoved half of it in his mouth before washing it down with water. "Whatever. At least no one was hurt permanently," Jeno said.

  "But we wasted a night for almost nothing," Chenle said with a sigh.

  "You're just upset you didn't get to go see your Catholic boyfriend," Donghyuck teased.

_ Jisung. _

__ Chenle threw open the door. "Actually, there's still time."

  "Chenle, you get back here and rest!" Renjun demanded.

  "Nope, sorry," he said, giving a little wave. Before he could protest any further, he closed the door and hurried down the stairs, nearly tripping due to his still swimming vision. Maybe it really wasn't the best idea to leave, but he has already committed.

  Knowing he'd probably not be able to jump the wall, he made his way out to the sidewalk and entered the park the more conventional way. He hurried along the paved path to where he'd usually flop over the brick divider and land quite tragically in the grass.

  A familiar lanky teenager was sitting beside the path.

  "Jisung!"

  Jisung stood frantically and rushed over to Chenle. He looked like he was about to hug him but stopped himself.

  "Are… are you okay?" Jisung's eyes were wide with concern.

  "I could ask the same for you," Chenle said. "You didn't come last night."

  "I was… sick."

  There was something there Jisung wasn't saying, but Chenle let it slide.

  "It's okay," Chenle assured him, taking a dramatic first step on the sidewalk. Jisung laughed and joined him, walking in sync.

  "Are you really sure you're okay?" Jisung asked.

  Chenle nearly snorted, remembering it hadn't even been an hour since he had a phantom knife stuck several inches into his stomach. "I'm  _ really  _ sure."

  Jisung nodded. "Alright. It's just that… something weird went on at Huang's a little while ago. And there was a lot of yelling across the street and all that, but you weren't there. And I know you… are involved. In all that."

_ Oh, yeah, I wasn't there because I was dead. _

__ "What… kind of weird stuff?"

  Jisung rubbed the back of his neck. "Well, when they… when we showed up for class, there was a whole bunch of blood and a Bible in the front hall. And to say it was concerning would be the understatement of the year."

  "...oh. Well. Maybe whoever's blood that was is totally fine now."

  Jisung smiled and sighed in amusement. "Chenle."

  He looked at Jisung's eyes, full of amusement and knowledge. "Fine," Chenle said. "Maybe I bled out on the floor of your school. You seem to already know that, which doesn't make  _ any _ sense."

  "I know a lot of things," Jisung said.

  "That's scary."

  "You're a witch, Chenle."

  Chenle rolled his eyes. "Eh, not a big deal."

  Jisung laughed, big and bright, and it was probably the cutest thing Chenle had ever seen. "Anyway, I, uh," Jisung said. "Are you getting closer to solving the problem?"

  "I think so?" Chenle said. "Things are kind of weird right now. I don't mean to scare you, though, it's gonna be alright."

  "No, I understand. I promise it doesn't scare me." Jisung seemed deep in thought as he stared up at the featureless sky. "Though I would urge you against performing another exorcism."

  "You  _ do  _ know everything! Why do you ask me this stuff if you already know?" Chenle pouted.

  It still didn't make any sense that Jisung knew these things, especially since the other Catholic students didn't seem to, but he chalked it up to Jisung's open mind and lack of religious affiliation.

  "Because I like to talk to you."

  Chenle prayed that Jisung's neverending knowledge didn't extend to the way his heart thumped awkwardly in his chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I promise that Jisung is actually gonna be a part of the plot soon y'all. But what would it be without a little ambiguity, huh?


	7. Another Hurt

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back everyone! I hope you enjoy~

_Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot even save themselves from the power of the flame. These are not coals for warmth; this is not a fire to sit by. (Isaiah 47:14)_

  Chenle stumbled back into the dorm room on a Saturday night, a fresh stab wound in his lung just healed by Jeno, whose hand he was holding onto for dear life. It had only been the two of them that time, since Ten was busy doing something top secret, as he had said, Renjun was "done with their bullshit", and Donghyuck was serving a (well-earned) detention. He collapsed onto his bed with an empty sigh.

  "Stabbed? Again?" Renjun asked. He was sitting on Jeno's bed, a massive book in his lap and glasses perched precariously on his nose.

  "Yep," Chenle confirmed. "No new information, either."

  "How are your grades with all that blood loss?"

  Chenle shrugged. "I'm kind of a prodigy, Junnie."

  Renjun sighed heavily. "Don't you have homework?"

  "If letting potions stew for a week counts," he answered, taking a long swig of water.

  To say things weren't going well with the whole 'St. Marjorie's is haunted by a ghost with internalized homophobia and an aversion to Hell' situation would be an understatement. Chenle was routinely sneaking into St. Marjorie's to let Johnny stab him, and he had hardly even gotten any leads off of it. He didn't even get used to the pain. It was a new kind of terrible each night. He'd also been _caught_ by a student once, but he seemed so startled by Chenle's blood splattered hands that he wouldn't say anything, causing Chenle to leave him alone and not drag him back to the academy for a memory loss potion. Chenle was wrong. The yelling from St. Marjorie's began again with cries of murder and witchcraft, despite the fact that they knew nobody died.

  Jisung was a source of emotional comfort, but the information he provided was concerning. Some of the Catholic students called for stonings, heads on stakes, witch trials and punishment for their sins, and the law was lax enough on crimes against witches that they felt they could get away with it. Even though Kun didn't know of them going out to St. Marjorie's every night, he was on high alert to protect his own students. The raised aggression was mutual.

  "-so _fucking_ ungrateful!" a loud voice came as the door opened. "Yeah, I know, right? Okay. Bye, Yangyang."

  Donghyuck closed the door behind him and yelled in frustration.

  "Complaining about the Catholic students isn't going to solve your problems," Jeno said blankly.

  Donghyuck gestured to the road angrily. "I can't really just be complacent with the fact that Yuta wants to burn me at the stake!"

  "That's a bit intense, don't you think, Hyuck?" Chenle said.

  "Well, it's what he said," he huffed.

  "...I have fireproof potions?" Chenle offered, just trying to do _something_ to fix the problem. All the problems. The problems he was just dealing with instead of solving. And he had kind of created this one in particular.

  "That's not gonna fix the core issue," Renjun said.

  "The only thing we can _do_ to help them is witchcraft," Jeno complained, "and they don't seem to want it."

  "Over it," Donghyuck announced. "Totally over it."

  It was silent for all of two seconds before he groaned in frustration.

  "It doesn't sound like you're over it," Chenle pointed out.

  Donghyuck grumbled something under his breath and sat down on his bed weightily. "How's your conspiracy going, Junnie?"

  Renjun closed his book gingerly and began to search for something underneath Jeno's bed, soon pulling out a cork board that was taller and heavier than he was, covered in pieces of paper, strings, and pins. He propped it up against the wall and pulled a meter stick from under the mattress, as well. "I've been working on this, actually."

  He tapped the wooden stick against a (very unflattering) picture of Sicheng. "Sicheng was the first to be attacked by Johnny," he pointed to a pixelated print-out of a ghost emoji at the top center of the board, "and then came Chenle."

  Jeno's hand shot up from where he was sitting on the floor. "Quick question."

  Renjun pointed the meter stick at him. "Yes."

  "How did you get a picture of Sicheng?"

  "The internet."

  "That's kinda creepy."

  "You're the one who's trespassed on private Catholic school property enough to warrant a lifetime in jail," Renjun said blankly, redirecting his attention to the board.

  "Rude," Chenle muttered to Jeno.

  "Anyway!" Renjun continued. "I made a list of all things I think Sicheng and Chenle have in common other than being attacked by Johnny."

  He tapped the end of the meter stick against a picture of Jesus. "They are both Catholic, or at least were."

  He moved on to a picture of a very small dog. "They're both very cute."

  "Aww, thanks, Junnie!" Chenle gushed.

  "You're welcome, Lele. But it's the truth."

  "Is Sicheng cuter than me?" he pried farther.

  "No, but that's besides the point."

  Chenle sat back, pleased with the answer, and watched as Jeno raised his hand again.

  "...yes?" Renjun asked, evidently exhausted.

  "Do you really think that them being cute is a pivotal part of this?"

  "I'm not ruling anything out. Third point!"

  Renjun slammed the stick against a rainbow flag. "They're both gay."

  "How do you know Sicheng's gay?" Jeno asked.

  "How do you know _Chenle's_ gay?" Donghyuck questioned loudly.

  "We know there's something going on with Sicheng and Yuta," Renjun said.

  "Fair point." Chenle said.

  "You never came out to me!" Donghyuck whined.

  Chenle thought back.

  He had told Jeno when Jeno flat-out asked him, and Renjun had been in the room. Donghyuck tended to assume most people were gay, so it just didn't come up, Chenle figured.

  "Whoops?"

  Donghyuck threw a pillow at him, but to no avail.

  Renjun loudly hit the cork board again. "My point is, Chenle and Sicheng are gay and Catholic. Johnny is Catholic, and was killed by his roommate for being gay. Do you see how this makes sense?"

  Chenle waited for his brain to piece together the information before he nodded. "Okay. So. What is his dying wish he's trying to avoid?"

  "For all the religious baby gays to live happy, undisturbed lives," Donghyuck guessed.

  "Actually," Renjun admitted, "that's our best theory so far."

  "You can't be serious," Jeno mused.

  "I am. That's the only reason I can think of for him to do this." Renjun sat back down on Jeno's bed and let his shoulders fall.

  "How do we combat that? Fulfill it?" Chenle asked.

  "You could stop getting stabbed," Jeno suggested helpfully.

  "He'll just find another," Chenle dismissed. "Honestly, this mass exorcism thing is looking better by the second."

  Renjun sighed. "That's exactly the solution we're trying to avoid."

  "So, what? It's gonna be really hard to get a handful of closeted Catholic gays to accept themselves just to get Johnny to go back to Hell," Donghyuck said.

  "And Johnny probably wants to help them, so we'd have to trick him into that." Jeno laid down flat on the floor with a defeated huff.

  "He picked a really good dying wish for this," Chenle agreed.

  Renjun shot up quickly, hastily shoving the cork board back under Jeno's bed. "I have an idea."

 

»»---------------------►

 

  Chenle sighed as he ladeled the boiling green-blue mixture into a coffee mug. It smelled of burnt Coca-Cola and wet sponge. "This is the dumbest idea you have ever had," Yangyang said, impressed.

  Renjun, Donghyuck, Yangyang, and Chenle were all sitting in the dim basement underneath Hwang's, a leather-bound book opened on the floor to a recipe: _Body Swapping Serum._

  "I still don't think it's going to work," Chenle complained, looking back at the recipe. "I need a piece of hair from whoever we're switching with."

  "Do you want to be Sicheng, and I'll be Yuta? Or should you be Yuta?" Donghyuck asked.

  Chenle didn't remember how he got roped into this.

  Renjun's "genius" idea was to fool Johnny by going with Jeno to get the ghost to the rooftop, hopefully calling forward memories of his own death, and having Chenle and Donghyuck possessing Yuta and Sicheng in order to stage some sort of romantic confession scene. He highly doubted it would work, but Renjun claimed there was no harm in trying.

  "I'll be Sicheng," Chenle answered.

  Donghyuck swept a hand across the air and opened a small portal, just big enough for his hand to fit through. He reached through and emerged with one, curly, dark brown hair. He dropped it into the glass in Chenle's hands and ruffled his hair lovingly. "It'll be fine," Donghyuck said.

  Chenle breathed deeply, hoping he was right. Donghyuck opened a second portal, returned with another piece of hair, and shook it into the cup. Chenle gestured to two vials sitting on the ground. "Remember to use the sleeping potions as soon as Sicheng and Yuta are awake and in our bodies," he reminded Yangyang.

  "You got it, boss."

  "Let's just get going," Renjun said.

  Chenle glanced over at Donghyuck, who held his mug out. Chenle clinked them together and drank. It _tasted_ like Coca-Cola and wet sponge, now with burnt hair, and on top of that it was way too warm to be comfortable going down his throat.

  He felt weird. Extremely weird. When he  stared at the back of his eyelids, everything felt foreign and different. Not his eyelids, he supposed. Sicheng's eyelids. He opened his eyes and blinked around the dark room.

  It didn't look like the dorm room he expected to be in. The floor was brick and shiny, and the only light came from a flame somewhere behind him.

  There were three other people in the room.

  Renjun. Yangyang. And his own body, blinking back at him with a shocked and confused expression.

  "The potions!" Yangyang remembered.

  "No, stop!" Chenle said, in a voice that distinctly wasn't his own. He looked down at his Donghyuck's dramatic black robe and tan hands.

  Renjun waved his hand, urging Yangyang to keep going.

  "... I don't think we did this right," came Chenle's voice, his voice, from his mouth, controlled by Donghyuck's conscience.

  Chenle groaned and pressed the heel of his palm into his - Donghyuck's? - forehead. "Yangyang, stop. It's us."

  "Did you two…?" Renjun started.

  "How did you mess it up this bad?" came Chenle's voice.

  " _You_ did the hair thing!" Chenle responded, pointing first at his own body and then, correcting himself, at Donghyuck's. "This is all your fault."

   Renjun snorted in laughter before he began to _cackle,_ holding his sides.

  "Did you do this on purpose?" Donghyuck asked suspiciously, from Chenle's body. Even with it being Chenle's face, the expression was so Donghyuck that it hardly looked like the same person.

  "No!" Renjun gasped. "And that… makes it so much better!"

  Chenle flopped down on the ground, as did his body across from him. "How are we gonna switch back?" Donghyuck asked.

  Chenle rolled Donghyuck's eyes (the semantics were beginning to confuse him) and sighed. "It lasts three hours if I brewed it correctly," he explained. "It'd take longer to brew the potion to fix it."

  Yangyang stood and Chenle felt a hand on his shoulder. "Chenle. Hyuck? Chenhyuck."

  Renjun nodded in approval.

  "This is the funniest thing I've ever seen," he said flatly.

  Chenle scowled at him, which only made him laugh.

  "We're going back to the dorms," Donghyuck said from Chenle's teeth. He waved towards the fire to put it out.

  It worked.

  Donghyuck took a few more steps before he held up Chenle's hand and stared at it. "Chenle, you can conjure?"

  "Not well?" Chenle answered.

  "But you have the power to," Donghyuck said.

  "Yeah, I did it as a kid all the time." His voice shook with anxiety.

  He had suppressed his conjuring on purpose, and still couldn't find it in him to not be ashamed, as much as he wished he could do it again.

  "It's okay," Renjun said. "Let's just go back to the dorm."

  Jeno thought it was very funny, as well, after he got past the disbelief. Obviously, they had to abandon their plan at St. Marjorie's. Chenle just wanted to go to sleep, given how rare of a commodity it was with being stabbed nightly.

  He watched as Donghyuck, in his body, approached his own bed.

  "No," Chenle protested. "You are _not_ putting my body in _your_ bed."

  Jeno raised his eyebrows suggestively and Renjun smacked him.

  "But I don't wanna put _my_ conscience in yours!" Donghyuck complained back.

  Chenle shouted uselessly with Donghyuck's voice. "Whatever! I'm going out to see Jisung."

  And he left.

  His motor control with Donghyuck's limbs was poor, despite them being almost exactly the same height and size. It felt like Donghyuck's body itself was configured differently. He blamed it on the spirits.

  Chenle walked over to the brick wall separating him from the park and jumped it, grateful for Donghyuck's comparative strength.

  He touched down on the grass as lightly as possible, trying not to hurt the body he was borrowing. As much as the situation irked him, he wasn't going to be petty over it.

  He turned to see Jisung, who smiled before his eyes went wide in shock.

  Chenle ran an unfamiliar hand over an unfamiliar face and sighed. "Jisungie! It's me!"

  "... it's who?"

  "It's Chenle,"

  Jisung snorted. "You… can't be serious."

  Chenle hurried up to him. "No, it is! It's me."

  "Well it _looks_ like Donghyuck," he said cautiously, shoulders tensed.

  "I. I know. ...Quiz me! What's a thing only Chenle would know?"

  Jisung thought for a second. "When's my birthday?"

  "February fifth," Chenle recited.

  "How tall am I?"

  Chenle looked up at him and at the easily estimated two inch height difference between them. "Jisung, I can _see_ you."

  "Oh. Right," he said sheepishly. "Fine. Hi… Chenle."

  "Donghyuck and I accidentally switched bodies," Chenle explained, beginning to walk with him.

  "What do you mean _accidentally?"_ Jisung asked, prodding at Donghyuck's hands in fascination.

  He explained the plan, the potion, and his current situation.

  "No, that definitely wouldn't have worked, anyway," Jisung said.

  "How do _you_ know?" Chenle teased back.

  Something strange and unreadable crossed Jisung's face, but it was gone just as quickly as it arrived. "I know everything, remember?"

  "Oh, right, my bad."

  Jisung looked over at him and laughed.

  "What?" Chenle asked, not being able to hold back his own laughter.

  "It's so weird to see Donghyuck. Saying the stuff you say. That's all."

  "You don't know Donghyuck," Chenle assured him. "It's even weirder if you do."

  "I know his shouting."

  "That's pretty close to what he's like all the time."

  Jisung nodded. "So yes, it's very weird."

  Chenle poked Donghyuck's face with a smile. "He's cute, though!"

  Jisung made a face of dramatic uncertainty. "Ehhhh…"

  "Am I cuter?" Chenle teased.

  "For sure," Jisung said with a small smile.

  And that one hit Chenle right in the heart, in Donghyuck's heart, and that was even weirder to think about. He didn't want _Donghyuck_ to have feelings for Jisung. Those were all Chenle's.

  He tried not to think about how he had just categorized it in his head.

  "Anyway," Jisung said. "At least you won't be stabbed."

  "Not up to go," Chenle said. "And I know Donghyuck isn't going to take my body there, either. Someone else is going to get hurt."

   _Someone else is going to get hurt._

He cursed his stupidity. Now someone else was in danger because, for one reason or another, he was stuck in Donghyuck's body.

  "Johnny doesn't try to kill people," Jisung said.

  "Huh?"

  "That's… that's what you said. So at least no one is in grave danger. And maybe this will help you figure out what to do."

  Chenle chuckled breathily, remembering the presentation Renjun gave earlier. "Well, Renjun already has some ideas."

  "Really? What are they?"

  Telling Jisung this meant outing himself. To a boy attending a Catholic school. And Chenle really did care about Jisung's opinion, and probably still would even if Jisung was a raging homophobe. But, Chenle had also told him about Johnny and Ten, and he seemed totally fine, but almost _too_ indifferent-

  "Yah! Earth to Chenle!"

  Chenle shook his head quickly. "Uh. Sorry I spaced out. Renjun's idea was that Johnny is targeting kids who are both-" here goes nothing, "Catholic and gay."

  There was hardly a beat of silence before Jisung snorted. "Actually, that makes a lot of sense."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I mean," Jisung said. "Sicheng and Yuta are about the least discreet you can be and still be in the closet, and, I mean, I don't know about you, but-"

  "No, I'm. Yeah."

  Jisung nodded. "There's a lot of gay kids in that school that just can't except themselves, and the book doesn't make it easy."

  Chenle took in a heavy breath. "You should… be careful."

  "As un-heterosexual as I am, I don't really think I'm in danger."

   _...wait._

"Do you know who might be?"

  "Who am I to say?" he said plainly. "I guess we'll find out."

  Chenle, not knowing what to do, put a hand over Jisung's cold knuckles. The other didn't respond at all, so Chenle held his hand. With Donghyuck's hand. What he wouldn't give to be back in his own body. _Whatever,_ he thought to himself. _Just guys being dudes._

  As they approached the beginning of the path again, Jisung turned towards Chenle and looked down at their conjoined hands. His eyes widened in surprise as if he hadn't even noticed before he smiled and gave Chenle's hand a comforting squeeze.

  Chenle was not okay (read: whipped).

  "I should be going, Lele."

  "Okay, Ji," Chenle said. "See you-"

  But he was interrupted by swimming vision and the back of Donghyuck's eyelids. He felt almost as if he was floating before he was harshly grounded again, feeling all too solid. He blinked and looked around, noticably away from Jisung.

  Renjun blinked at him. "Chenle, are you back? Did it work?"

  Chenle shot up, glancing around their dorm room. "You put Donghyuck back in my body?"

  "We did it!" Jeno cheered.

  Chenle stood, slightly dizzy from his recent eviction from Donghyuck's body, and sprinted down the stairs.

  It took less than thirty seconds to get to the park, seeing Jisung now holding both of Donghyuck's hands. Donghyuck had a devilish smile on his face as he looked at Jisung and opened his mouth to speak.

  Chenle did the only thing he could think to do and shoved him. "Hi, Ji!" Chenle greeted, his eyes switching between Jisung's stunned expression and Donghyuck's stumbling into the grass. "I'm back."

  "Are you Chenle now?" he asked.

  Chenle nodded and beamed.

  "Yah, Lele," Donghyuck complained. "I wasn't doing anything."

  "Identity theft is not a joke," Chenle retorted, crossing his arms. "Also, I don't believe you."

  Jisung giggled lightly at their bickering.

  "I have done nothing to you," Donghyuck said, mocking offense. Chenle rolled his eyes and turned back to Jisung.

  "Bye, for real this time," Chenle said, quickly hugging Jisung before shoving Donghyuck and running back towards the dorm.

  Chenle was almost inside, sprinting from Donghyuck's wrath, before loud sirens cut through the darkness of the night, followed by red and blue flashing lights. The ambulance stopped in front of St. Marjorie's.

  Donghyuck placed a hand on Chenle's forearm. "That's our cue."

  "...to do what?"

  "I just thought it sounded cool," Donghyuck muttered, looking at the moving bodies across the street. "We should go ask Renjun."

  Chenle nodded and opened the door. They solemnly made their way up the stairs.

  "Oh, you're back!" Jeno exclaimed.

  "There's an ambulance," Chenle said, pointing in the vague direction of Huang's. "Someone's hurt."

   "I knew I felt something," Renjun said. "We'll have to wait until tomorrow to visit them. Are you down with skipping your first classes?"

   "What _happened_ to you, Junnie?" Donghyuck said. "Descendant of the founder, magical genius, goody two shoes? Skipping class?"

  "Please, this is hands-on learning."

  "Some Catholic kid is gonna get some hands-on learning with choking all of us," Jeno said.

   "It depends who's in the hospital," Chenle said indifferently.

   He knew it wasn't Jisung. That cleared his mind.

  "Fine," Jeno said. "I guess we're going."

  Donghyuck threw himself down on his bed. "Wake me up when it's time to go."

 

»»---------------------►

 

  Renjun's eyes bored into the receptionist, and the air filled with a familiar suffocating feeling on top of Chenle's deja vu. "There's a kid who came in from St. Marjorie's. Most likely stabbed. Which room?"

  "Room 342," the receptionist struggled.

  "It's still creepy," Donghyuck mumbled as they made their way to the elevator.

  When they found room 342, Renjun pressed his ear to the door before offering a thumbs up and creaking it open.

  Donghyuck filed in after Renjun and immediately began talking. "Well, well! Look who it is."

  Chenle hurried in to see Donghyuck, hands on his hips, glaring at the dark-haired boy sitting on the hospital bed with a bandage on his shoulder.

  "Mark Lee," Donghyuck finished.

  "Donghyuck," Mark spat back. "What are you doing here?"

  Jeno sighed, already making his way over to start healing Mark's injury. "Don't touch me!" he exclaimed. "What's going on?"

  Chenle offered a bright smile, hoping it would reassure him, before he spoke. "I'm Chenle. This is Renjun, Jeno, and, as you know, Hyuck. We're all from Huang's Academy."

  Mark nodded, his bushy eyebrows still etched into an expression of confusion.

  "You were stabbed. By a ghost."

  "So that's what it was," Mark said from between his teeth. "Did you send him after me? Are you here to finish the job?"

  "You are an absolute moron," Donghyuck said unhelpfully.

  "We've been trying to get rid of that ghost ever since Sicheng was stabbed," Renjun explained. Jeno made another reach from Mark's shoulder, but he lurched away. "Let him help you."

  At Renjun's words, Mark relaxed and let Jeno remove the bandage.

  Renjun leaned over to whisper in his ear. "Is it rude if I just… ask… if he's gay?"

  "I think so," Chenle whispered back. "Maybe just let Hyuck do it?"

  "Why Hyuck?"

  Chenle looked at Renjun with his eyebrows raised.

  "Oh," Renjun said simply.

  "How did you do that?" Mark asked, balking at his healed shoulder. "I mean. I'm not super down with witches, but that was super cool!"

  "Thanks," Jeno said earnestly with a wide smile.

  Renjun tugged Donghyuck aside, quickly whispering something before hurrying Jeno and Chenle out of the room. Chenle immediately closed the door and stayed close enough to hear.

  "It's weird to talk to you and not have it be across the street," came Mark's voice.

  Donghyuck laughed knowingly. "Yeah. I know I hate you or whatever, but I'm sorry this happened to you."

  "It's not your fault."

  They were silent for a little bit.

  "Listen, Mark, we have a theory about the ghost."

  "I'm all ears."

  "Well, the ghost's name is Johnny. Johnny Seo."

  There was an unmistakable sob.

  "Wait, Mark. I'm so sorry, what's wrong?"

  Chenle had rarely heard that softness in Donghyuck's voice in the years he had known him.

  Mark let out a wet laugh. "I… I know him. Our parents were friends."

  "Oh."

  "When he died… even his parents seemed to think he deserved it," Mark sniffed out. "It made me sick."

  "No one could ever deserve something like that," Donghyuck said bitterly.

  "Well, you know what the book says. Stone the witches and the gays!" he cries, voice dripping with sarcasm. "And I know they'd wish the same for me if they knew."

  "Mark, I'm so sorry."

  "Nah, it's fine. God is good, they're all just wrong."

  Silence.

  "I don't know why I'm telling you this."

  Chenle suddenly felt as if he was intruding on something he wasn't intended to.

  "It's okay. I understand."

  Donghyuck _never_ understood religious people, as evidenced by his and and Chenle's endless argumengs. Something was going on. Regardless, they got the information they needed.

  Donghyuck soon emerged from the room with glassy eyes and opened a portal back to the academy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What's gonna happen next? Who knows?  
> Well, I know. But you don't know. That's the point.  
> Also, I wanted to write something kind of stupid with Hyuck because it's his birthday! So, happy birthday, Hyuckie, I love you soOoo much :>
> 
> I hope you enjoyed, and I'll see you all next time!


	8. What The Moon Heals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Welcome back, everyone, to another installment of whatever this is. I hope you enjoy.

_When someone tells you to consult mediums or spiritists, who whisper and mutter, should not a people inquire of their god? Why consult the dead on behalf of the living? Consult God's instruction and the testimony of warning. If anyone does not speak according to the word, they have no light of dawn. (Isaiah 8:19-20)_

 

  Renjun stepped back and examined the cork board. It now had a picture of Mark off to the left of Chenle's picture, and strings connecting him to the causes in the center. "I think we know for sure," he said.

  The three of them nodded.

  "But I don't know what we're supposed to do about it," Donghyuck mumbled.

  "Jisung told me that the plan we had before definitely wouldn't have worked," Chenle said.

  "No, that was stupid," Renjun admitted.

  "I wouldn't do it again anyway," Donghyuck agreed.

  "Yeah, last time you almost confessed to Jisung on my behalf," Chenle grumbled.

  Donghyuck laughed. "Where'd you get that idea?"

  "I _know_ you, Hyuck."

  "...well, you're right. But it doesn't matter."

  "Where's Jeno?" Renjun interrupted.

  "I think he went to go find Ten? He was gonna tell him about… all this," Chenle explained.

  "I don't know how well Ten is gonna take this," Donghyuck admitted. "You know he's emotionally invested."

  "So are you two," Renjun said.

  Chenle sighed. "I'm not concerned about Jisung." Why? Well, that's a good question. Jisung just seemed to know something, well, many things, that Chenle didn't.

  "I'm not concerned about anyone!" Donghyuck said defensively.

  "I've never seen you as… _empathetic_ as you were with Mark in the hospital," Renjun said, putting away the cork board. "Don't try to tell me you're not whipped."

  Donghyuck huffed but didn't say anything.

  It didn't take long before the door was thrown open and a short, harried, black-haired figure was in front of Chenle. "Chenle, is it true?" Ten asked.

  "...what?"

  "Johnny stabbed Mark?"

  Jeno followed in, arms crossed, and leaned against the doorframe. "He won't just take my word for it."

  "He did," Chenle said slowly.

  Ten stared at him emptily before sitting on the floor and running a hand through his already disheveled hair. "I can't believe this."

  They were silent as they waited for Ten to speak again.

  "Mark was practically Johnny's little brother," he struggled out. "He would have done anything for him."

  Jeno took slow steps to place a comforting hand on Ten's shoulder. "Then this must have been the exact opposite of what he wanted to do, right?"

  Donghyuck nodded. "Yeah. He must be escalating his stunts. Maybe it's getting harder for him to stick around?"

  Ten sighed heavily. "I guess so. It's just so unlike him."

  Renjun took in a slow inhale of air. "I have a way that we might just be able to find out, actually."

  Chenle looked at him suspiciously. "This better be better than whatever you planned last time."

  "No, this should work," Renjun said. "I'll… I'll tell you all later. Meet me at the courtyard when the moon is out."

  Chenle was tired of new ideas. Tired of new solutions that probably wouldn't work. Still, though, it was worth a shot, if it meant that all of this could finally blow over. If everyone could be safe.

 

 

»»---------------------►

 

  When Chenle left his last class of the day, he was, unsurprisingly, met with yelling, from Jaemin and Yuta almost exclusively, but other students crowded onto the sidewalk to shout their share of Bible verses. It persisted almost up until he went to meet Renjun in the courtyard. Despite knowing how misguided their anger was, and that he had only ever helped them, the guilt gnawed at the back of his mind.

  It was so dark outside Chenle could hardly see. He held his hand out, palm towards the sky, and focused - prayed, almost.

  A flame flickered to life on his fingertips. He smiled.

  By the light of the new lantern, he made his way to the courtyard, illuminated by the glowing crystal in the center. Renjun was using the light to paint an intricate arrow on the ground going from the direction of St. Marjorie's towards the crystal. "Ah, Chenle, you're here."

  A portal opened on the far side of the concrete circle, and Ten's small form clambered through it and towards the light. Chenle closed his fist to extinguish his flame.

  Jeno soon arrived with Donghyuck in tow, and Renjun finished his meticulous work. "Care to tell us what's going on?" Jeno asked.

  Renjun took a quick glance over the whole set up, and the five of them. "Well, this is… how to summon ghosts. I've been doing a lot of research into ghosts, and I think at this point I can use this to summon Johnny here, keep him in place, and use my persuasion spell to have him tell us what we need to do. I've… thought about this a lot. I'm certain it will work."

  "Absolutely not," came Ten's voice. "You'll collapse. That's way too much magic for one person to do at once."

  "I have to do it," Renjun said, fists balled at his sides and eyes trained on the ground.

  "He's right, Junnie." Jeno looked at him with something akin to pity in his eyes.

  "If you're going to do this, we're going to help," Donghyuck said, crossing his arms definitively.

  "I don't think you can do this."

  "I'm offended at the notion," Ten said. "What makes you think I can't control ghosts like that? I'm a necromancer, Renjun."

  "I have truth serums," Chenle offered, reaching to unhook his messenger bag. "And we know potions at least kind of work on ghosts."

  "Yeah, but-"

  "And Jeno and I can play… badass backup team!" Donghyuck enthused.

  Jeno cheered along with him.

  "See, kid," Ten smirked, "you can't do everything by yourself."

  Renjun sighed before he nodded, a small smile gracing his features. "Okay. Well, we don't have much time. So everyone has to get ready."

  Ten held his palm out to the sky to summon what looked to be a staff, taller than Ten himself; black, with a bright green orb at the top that emitted its own sickly glow across the landscape. Donghyuck and Jeno stood behind the crystal, out of the way, and Renjun took his place right in front of it. "Are we ready?"

  After four separate nods, Renjun stomped his feet strongly into the ground and placed his palms flat on the uneven surface of the crystal. He muttered something under his breath, and it felt like a magnet was pulling Chenle towards the white light at the center of the courtyard. Wind whipped around him, tossing his hair into his eyes and filling his ears with noise. It only got louder and stronger, so much so that Chenle had to close his eyes against the force. Then, with a final deafening sound, it stopped.

  Renjun was trying to stand up, paint smeared across his clothes, and Ten had one hand around the staff and one held out towards the crystal. Right in front of the crystal was Johnny, semi-transparent with dark neat hair falling slightly over his forehead. He was kneeling, struggling. Chenle flinched at movement in his peripheral vision - a separate milky blue figure, sprawled out onto the grass not far from Chenle. He had large hands, one braced against the ground and one shielding his familiar face.

  Chenle almost didn't believe what he was seeing.

  "Jisung?"

  He turned towards Chenle sharply, eyes wide with terror and surprise.

  Chenle didn't have much time to think about what all of it meant, his feet moving involuntarily so he could crouch at Jisung's side and take his hardly solid hand in his own. "Jisung, what are you doing here? Did he kill you? Oh, God, I won't forgive myself if he did, I-"

  "Chenle," Jisung said, voice familiar but distant, as if it was being whispered through layers of clouds. He pointed weakly back towards the courtyard. " _Please_ just worry about that right now."

  Chenle stared at Jisung's frantic eyes until he smiled, reassuring and soft and heart-shaking. Chenle turned and hurried towards Johnny, already rifling through his messenger bag. Renjun had managed to stand up and was staring the ghost down. "What do you have to do?" Renjun said. The air was heavy with the spell, feeling almost like a liquid with the way it sloshed into Chenle's lungs.

  "It's not… that simple," Johnny said, obviously unsettled by the persuasion spell.

  "You have a dying wish," Renjun pressed. "Or else you wouldn't be a ghost. Tell me what it is."

  "I just wanted…" Johnny moved, causing Ten to shift to hold him in place. A glance at Ten showed his eyes were misty with unshed tears. "I just wanted them to be happy."

  "That's so vague!" Donghyuck shouted, clearly annoyed. "We can't work with that!"

  "How can we do that?" Renjun asked.

  Johnny slammed his eyes shut, refusing to listen. Chenle's hand closed around a thin, corked bottle, ice cold in his shaking fist, and held it up towards Renjun.

  "Open your eyes," Renjun demanded, voice dripping warm honey. Johnny did.

  "Drink."

  Despite the anguish way his eyebrows contorted on his forehead, Johnny reached forward a lithe hand and took the bottle from Chenle. Chenle uncorked it.

  "Drink," Renjun repeated, the air becoming a thick blanket over them.

  He did.

  Chenle held a hand up towards Renjun, telling him to wait, wait until the potion worked. For several pain-staking seconds, there was nothing.

  Then, Johnny, trembling against the force keeping him in place, looked up at them, tears streaming down his sunken face.

  Renjun hesitated before he asked again. "How can we help you rest, Johnny?"

  "Just help Mark," he struggled. "It'd… it'd be enough."

  "You better be done soon," Ten said loudly. "I'm not going to be able to keep this for very long."

  Chenle gave Johnny one long, lasting look. "We'll do our best," he said quietly.

  Ten's staff clattered to the ground along with the witch himself, and Johnny was gone in a gust of empty wind.

  Jeno hurried over to Renjun, who was now hardly keeping consciousness as he knelt on the ground.

  "...what the Hell?" came Donghyuck's voice.

  Chenle looked back towards him and where he was pointing. To Jisung.

  Chenle latched his messenger bag closed and hurried over to Jisung, who quickly floated to his feet. "Is that what you were intending to do?" Jisung asked.

  "Not… this part!" Chenle screeched, gesturing to Jisung in all his transparency. "I can't believe he killed someone else, I-"

  "Chenle. Can we… talk somewhere else?"

  Even if it was just to escape Donghyuck's yelling, Chenle nodded, and led him up towards their dorm room.

  Chenle stood awkwardly with Jisung in the center of the room, and could feel his own hot tears against his face. Jisung was a ghost. Dead. And it was all because he couldn't get rid of Johnny fast enough, or at least get stabbed more times.

  "Woah, Lele. Don't cry."

  Jisung gave him a soft smile, and Chenle shook his head. "No, you're… you're dead! And it's all my fault!"

  Jisung sighed. "It isn't, Chenle. I've been dead."

  "What?"

  "The entire time. For years now, actually," Jisung said, starting to pace the room.

  Chenle wiped his eyes furiously and gaped at him. "This doesn't make any sense. You were a person!"

  Jisung rubbed the back of his neck and gave an awkward, empty chuckle. "It's… kind of complicated."

  "Everything in my life is complicated," Chenle responded.

  "Johnny… did kill me. A long time ago," Jisung began. "It really messed up his dying wish… thing. I became a ghost after I died with the intention to protect people from him, but I… never did that."

  Jisung's face fell into guilt. Chenle stopped him with a hand on his arm.

  "Anyway, it's because I just wanted to continue living a normal life, but I knew I'd never be able to leave St. Marjorie's. I didn't even go to school there at the time, since I was too young. I think Lucifer felt bad for me or something because he did some magic thing to let my body remain in mostly functioning condition. I've just been… possessing it. For a while."

  "Why didn't you tell me?" Chenle asked, taking both of Jisung's hands in his own. At first, they phased right through, which Jisung giggled at before letting Chenle hold them for real.

  "I thought it'd freak you out," Jisung said. "And you seemed actually open to being friends with me."

  "I'm sure a lot of people would be."

  Jisung shrugged and twisted Chenle's fingers in his own. "Ah, not really. People think I'm weird. I don't breathe much. Or eat. Or sleep. Or feel what happens to my body. Or even go to class much because… I don't know what I'm going to do after I graduate."

  "Because you can't leave?"

  "Because I can't leave."

  Chenle's mouth was dry from the stress of realization and the new tears threatening to fall. "And after… after Johnny's gone?"

  Jisung smiled sadly. "It was my dying wish. I'll be gone after that."

  Chenle hiccuped. "There has to be something we can do, right? You can't leave."

  "I don't think so, Lele," Jisung admitted. "But it's okay."

  "It's not," he argued.

  "I shouldn't have been able to stay as long as I did," Jisung explained. "I'm glad I got to meet you."

  Chenle barely got to open his mouth to speak again when the door creaked open. Renjun slumped through it with Jeno's help. "I'm sorry," Jeno muttered. "Am I interrupting something?"

  "I mean, kind of," Jisung huffed.

  Donghyuck followed behind them. "Doesn't matter!" he announced. "I demand an explanation for why Chenle's Catholic boyfriend is actually Chenle's _ghost_ boyfriend."

  Despite the graveness of the situation, Chenle found it in him to defend himself and laugh at Donghyuck's absurdity. "Not my boyfriend."

  Jisung giggled lightly.

  Jisung explained, in not so many words, everything he had told Chenle about being a ghost and what it meant for him.

  "Oh, come on," Renjun muttered, hardly awake. "Don't be so melodramatic."

  "Jisung's going to be _gone_ , Renjun, have a little sympathy," Jeno said softly.

  "No," Renjun returned. "He has his body, and he was murdered. We can resurrect him, easy."

  Chenle turned, eyes wide, back to Jisung.

  "Can you really?" Jisung stuttered out. "You really don't have to-"

  "No, we have to," Donghyuck interrupted. "Lele here would mourn you forever. And you're too cute not to keep around."

  "And then we can help Mark and his relationship with being gay and religious," Jeno confirmed.

  "And beat all the bad guys!" Chenle cheered.

  Jisung shook his head. "Thank you," he said softly.

  "Well, we should probably get on that as soon as possible," Renjun struggled. "But we have to ask Kun for help."

  "...oh no," Chenle whispered.

 

»»---------------------►

 

  " _What?"_

Chenle hadn't expected Kun to react well to him and Renjun showing up at his office with local dead Catholic student Jisung in tow, but it was better than showing up with Donghyuck and Jeno.

  "You summoned a murderous ghost on _purpose?"_

  "To be fair," Renjun started, "more dangerous things have gone on here."

  "That's not an excuse," Kun scolded, still welcoming them inside the room.

  Chenle led Jisung by the hand. Jisung had looked unsettled the moment Renjun began tapping symbols into the front door, and it only got more extreme when the staircase has shifted before them to lead them to the office. Even by ghost standards, he was pale and gaunt.

  "So, I have to punish you for doing that. And… I suspect there's something else, but I can't punish you on counts of suspicion."

   _That's good_ , Chenle thought. Otherwise, he'd probably warrant himself an expulsion.

  Kun sat down behind his desk and folded his hands together. "Were Donghyuck and Jeno involved in this?"

  Silence.

  "I'll take that as a yes?"

  Renjun nodded slowly.

  Kun picked up a pen and scribbled something onto a piece of paper. "And… I suppose you came to ask for something. Who is this?"

  Kun nodded at Jisung indicatively, and Chenle squeezed Jisung's hand. (He didn't remember that Jisung couldn't feel it.)

  Jisung didn't open his mouth. He didn't seem up for speaking.

  "This is Park Jisung," Chenle said. "His ghost came when we did the ghost summoning thing? It's kind of complicated but I think you could resurrect him."

  Kun sighed. "You know we can't just be throwing that resurrection thing around."

  "Please, Headmaster?" Renjun asked. "He was murdered by the ghost, just like Chenle. There's no reason we can't bring him back."

  Kun took in a slow, calculated breath and threw his pen onto the desk. "Okay."

  "Thank you, Headmaster!" Chenle stuttered out, bowing quickly.

  "It's dark outside, isn't it?" Kun asked, standing up and pulling on a jacket from a hook on the wall.

  Renjun nodded enthusiastically.

  "Then, let's go."

  As they walked towards the courtyard, Kun turned to Jisung. "Hi, Jisung."

  "H-hi." It was hardly audible.

  "My name is Kun, and I'm the headmaster at Huang's."

  "Nice to meet you," Jisung whispered back. "And thank you for doing this."

  "Well," Kun said with a small laugh, "I hope you'll in turn explain how you managed this." He gestured to Jisung's very human body. "I don't generally hear about ghosts possessing themselves."

  Jisung laughed nervously as they stepped on to the cement of the courtyard. "It's not much, but I'll tell you everything I know."

  Kun smiled appreciatively. He moved to kneel beside the softly glowing crystal. "Jisung, come here."

  Jisung sat awkwardly on the pavement and Chenle let go of his hand.

  "I need to see where the wound is," Kun said softly.

  Jisung nodded and carded a hand through the side of his hair clumsily. He lifted up a large section of it to reveal what was, undoubtedly, a whole through his skull. It wasn't bleeding, which somehow only made it more unsettling. "This is clean," Kun observed. "You've been dead for how long?"

  "About three years now."

  Kun sighed. "Poor kid," he said under his breath. "We're gonna need a blood donor. What type are you?"

  "Uh, type O."

  "We're gonna need a match, then," Kun said.

  "Can't you just… magic it, or something?" Jisung asked.

  Chenle snorted out a laugh.

  "Some things in magic are way more trouble than they're worth," Kun explained.

  "I'm type O," Renjun piped up. "I can-"

  "You _just_ almost died from using too much magic," Chenle said. "Are you sure?"

  Renjun smiled slightly. "It's what has to be done, yeah? It won't be that bad."

  Chenle couldn't help but beam as Renjun rolled his sleeve up and held out his arm towards Kun. "Are you sure, Renjun?"

  "I have painkillers!" Chenle piped up, opening his messenger bag and quickly finding a vial of reduced pine sap mixed with a small bit of unicorn blood.

  "That's not necessary," Renjun protested as Chenle unscrewed the cap. "I can take it."

  "I will feel much better if you just let me use this," Chenle said, pouring the sticky liquid on to his fingers and spreading it along Renjun's forearm.

  Kun reached into the pocket of his jacket and pulled out a syringe (with some kind of summoning power Chenle may never understand), approaching Renjun.

  "Just do it," Renjun said, sensing Kun hesitating. He turned his face away.

  Chenle squeezed his own eyes shut until he heard Renjun breathe out in relief. "Did it hurt?" Jisung asked, amazed.

  "Chenle's the best alchemist I've ever _met,_ of course it didn't. But now my arm is sticky."

  "Sorry," Chenle said half-seriously.

  Renjun waved him off as Kun held the syringe under the direct beam of moonlight from the crystal, muttering under his breath until the blood glinted silver.

  "You're probably going to pass out after this," Kun warned, holding Jisung's head steady with his free hand. "So don't be alarmed."

  "I've already died once before," Jisung said.

  With that, Kun dispensed the viscous liquid onto the wound and whispered something else that made Jisung slump over, passed out.

  Chenle hurried to support Jisung's weight and smiled gratefully at Kun. "Now, the grovelling for his soul won't be needed this time, because we already have it. There's nothing to do but wait."

  Chenle moved to allow Renjun help hoist Jisung up. "Thank you, Headmaster."

  Kun nodded and swiftly left for his office again.

  Renjun grunted under Jisung's weight. "We're gonna need Jeno."

 

»»---------------------►

 

  It took a week for Jisung to wake up.

  It was an extremely slow and boring week. Hurting Mark seemed to have put Johnny in such a stupor that, though Renjun said he was still present, he wasn't going to attack anyone else for the time being. That meant that all four of them had to actually attend class and pretend they weren't just thinking about their next move, or, in Chenle's case, the very cute boy who has been passed out in their bed for days on end.

  Chenle slept on the floor. He wouldn't be opposed to sleeping in the same bed as Jisung - they were friends, and there was definitely something pressing at Chenle's ribs that wanted something more - but it was small and Jisung was basically a corpse. It felt weird. He held Jisung's hands sometimes and poked his face, but that was more out of curiosity than anything. Maybe he could shake him awake.

  When Jisung came to, Chenle wasn't even in the room.

  He returned from his alchemy class, shoulders and eyelids heavy, and collapsed onto his bed. Despite all the _nothing_ it felt like he was doing, he was exhausted.

  It took a few seconds until it occurred to him that his bed was generally occupied by a certain lifeless body.

  He heard a small giggle behind him.

  Chenle rolled off the bed quickly and stood to face Jisung, who was standing in the center of the room. Smiling. Alive.

  "Jisung!"

  He jumped the short distance to wrap his arms around Jisung's neck and hugged him. Jisung couldn't stop laughing, and Chenle laughed with him. "What's so funny?"

  "I haven't really felt anything at all for three years," Jisung said quietly, wrapping his long arms around Chenle's torso. "It's just nice."

  Chenle pulled back, but Jisung's grip tightened suddenly and their foreheads knocked together.

  It would have been so easy.

  But Jisung let go, and Chenle kept beaming as if the dash of hopefulness never graced his mind. "Are you feeling okay?"

  "Better than I have in a while," Jisung admitted. "How long was I out for?"

  "A week," Chenle said. "You kinda scared us. Jeno even went to Kun to ask if it was normal."

  "It's also the first time I've _slept_ in three years," Jisung said, stretching his arms. "So I reserve the right to sleep for a week."

  Chenle rolled his eyes and laughed. "The others will be back soon. They'll be glad to see you're awake."

  They were glad to see him awake. Jeno, Donghyuck, and Renjun all hugged him when they arrived at the dorm room. Jisung answered a million and one questions from a very talkative Donghyuck and was protected by a much more reasonable Jeno.

  "What are you going to do now, though?" Renjun asked after Donghyuck had finally settled down.

  Jisung squirmed awkwardly. "I… don't know."

  "You're still going to St. Marjorie's, technically, right?" Jeno noted.

  Jisung nodded. "But now I've been missing for a week. And this is really weird to say, but… technically I've already been declared dead. And buried."

  "...what do you _mean?"_ Renjun balked.

  Jisung folded his hands. "I mean that in the time between when I died and when Lucifer retrieved my body and let me live in it, I was found dead. And buried."

  Donghyuck looked as if he was halfway between laughing and being genuinely upset. "You can't be serious."

  Jisung laughed and ran a hand through his hair. "No, it's true. I have no clue how my parents would react."

  "Are they religious?" Chenle asked.

  "Only a little," Jisung answered.

  "Then you tell them the truth," Donghyuck said with a shrug. "Just hope they don't die of shock."

  Jisung smiled. "Yeah. But because of that, I don't know… if I want to go back."

  "Stay here," Chenle offered.

  "What?"

  "You could enroll here," he said. "I know you've never done magic before, but I'm sure you could!"

  Renjun nodded. "Kun still has to do the standard aptitude test, but theoretically, you could get in."

  "And we're keeping you here regardless," Donghyuck added. "You're too cute to send back into that prison."

  Jisung laughed lightly. "Thank you."

  Chenle squeezed his conjoined hands and Jisung looked up at him. Smiled. Chenle grinned back.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah! Look at that! Mystery solved :>


	9. Quiet

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay! Here we are. Let's do this.

  "I want to come."

  Chenle hugged Jisung's back closer to his chest. "I know. But you can't."

  "Why not?"

  "I know you were basically invincible as a ghost," Renjun started, "but that's not the truth anymore. And this mission isn't that important."

  It was important, kind of. The goal was to retrieve Mark from St. Marjorie's and give him a "homosexual wake-up call", as Jeno had so delicately phrased it, and summon Johnny so he could witness it himself. Renjun had rested quite well in the week that it took Jisung to wake up, and was absolutely convinced he could perform the summoning again. Chenle was mostly concerned Kun would actually catch them this time. 

  Jisung crossed his arms. "Oh, yeah? And which one of you even knows where Mark's room is?"

  No answer came.

  "Exactly. If you're planning on basically kidnapping my classmate, you'll need to know where he is."

  Jeno sucked in a breath. "That's a good point."

  "The idea was that Hyuck would show up and he'd come willingly," Renjun explained, "so it's not kidnapping."

  Donghyuck snorted. "What makes you think that will work?"

  "He's whipped for you," Jeno said, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

  "He literally yells at me every day," Donghyuck argued back.

  "Don't act like you aren't petty and emotionally constipated, too," Jisung said lightly.

  Chenle failed miserably at holding back his laughter.  

  Donghyuck's face was glowing with crimson as he slumped back into his comforter. "You don't  _ know  _ Mark doesn't want me to burn in Hell forever."

  "As long as he's with you," Chenle draws out, leaning towards Donghyuck dramatically. 

  Renjun sighed. "It's… our best bet. Can't believe I'm relying on Donghyuck's charms to get us through this."

  "And my knowledge," Jisung added.

  "Yes, thank you, Jisung."

  "You know," Jeno thought. "Jisung goes to St. Marjorie's, technically. He could just walk in and bring Mark over here."

  It was silent.

  "Why are we so stupid?" Donghyuck asked sincerely.

  "I… have no idea," Renjun said, shaking his head. "Jisung, you can do this, right?"

  "...can I bring Chenle?" Jisung asked, craning his neck to look at him. Chenle smiled.

  "But I wanna go!" Donghyuck chimed.

  "This is quickly turning back into our old plan," Jeno complained, pressing his fingers into his temples.

  "Just Chenle and Jisung are going," Renjun announced. "That's final."

  "H-"

  "Hyuck, I said  _ final!" _

__ "Hmph."

  "He's still gonna get in trouble for leaving, but we should go at night so maybe they don't notice?" Jisung suggested.

  "Just once," Renjun huffed. "Just once… I would like to get a good night's rest."

  "I'm ninety percent sure all of this was your idea in the first place," Donghyuck accused.

  Chenle scrambled through his memories, trying to verify Donghyuck's claims, but there was nothing. "Does anyone even remember?"

  He watched three heads shake.

  "So much for organized crime-fighting," Jeno grumbled.

  "We're teenagers, not the Avengers," Renjun exhaled.

  "Peter Parker is, like, sixteen," Jisung argued.

  "Well, are you Spider-Man?" Donghyuck mocked, no bite to his words.

  "God, not  _ more _ surprises," Jeno cried.

  Chenle hugged Jisung tighter and giggled into his shoulder. He was so much warmer than he was when he wasn't alive - an obvious observation, but an observation nonetheless, and one Chenle was very happy to make. The way Jisung laughed was deep and shook his ribcage heartily, and Chenle delighted at how felt against him. Chenle considered himself whipped for Jisung, definitely. For sure. He wasn't one to hide from something like that.

  "But, since it isn't dark outside yet," Donghyuck said, standing up and wiping his hands on his jeans, "McDonald's?"

  "You guys sneak out a lot?" Jisung asked quietly into Chenle's neck.

  "I mean, kind of."

  Jisung laughed and Chenle stood up before helping him to his feet. When Jisung stood, Chenle was yet again reminded of his height. Jisung laughed at the way he looked up at him spitefully.

  Jisung ate McDonald's with them and listened to Donghyuck's screeching. He watched as Jeno gave Renjun a nearly forced piggyback ride to the dorm building and Chenle's endless bothering almost sent them careening into oncoming traffic. It was almost like they were meant to be that way. Jisung was quiet, even if only comparatively, and his presence was soothing to more than just Chenle. Even Jeno, almost constantly on edge with his fears for his friends' safety, found a way to breathe easily. Even if Jisung wasn't going to be the boyfriend Chenle always wanted or something to that effect, he was one of his best friends, and Chenle was content with that.

  It was twilight by the time the five meandered back into the dorm room (that Chenle realized he  _ supposedly  _ only shared with Donghyuck and Jeno). "Well, you two should head out," Renjun said.

  Jisung's face of slight contentment reset with determination as he turned back to Chenle. Chenle nodded. "We're going to snatch Hyuck's man," he said as he turned around to leave, Jisung's hand in his own. It was almost second nature at that point.

  "You're too cute, Chenle! If you actually snatch him, I will scream for days."

  "So you  _ do  _ like him!" came Renjun's shrill exclamation. Chenle closed the door and rolled his eyes.

  Jisung held him back from crossing the street without looking both ways. "So careless, Lele," he breathed out.

  "I've literally been stabbed more times than I can count on one hand. What's a car going to do?" he teased back as they stepped on to the opposite side of the sidewalk.

  "We've both died before," Jisung said with a heavy eye roll. "I'm just not jumping at the chance to do it again."

  "Aww, but Lucifer's a pretty nice dude."

  "Yeah, sure, for being the supposedly most evil force on Earth."

  Chenle let Jisung lead him around the right side of the massive stone building, down a row of identical concrete towers. He stopped in front of one near the end. "Now, we have to be quiet. If we run into anyone, you're a new transfer."

  "Or," Chenle suggested, unlatching his messenger bag to pull out a bottle of light pink liquid, "I turn myself invisible and avoid the situation entirely."

  "You're so smart," Jisung marvelled as Chenle uncorked the top of the bottle. He poured it over himself and, for a few seconds, it felt like he had just poured a potion over himself to no avail. But, judging by Jisung's stunned face, it had worked as expected.

  "Can you see me?"

  "No. Wow. Magic is so cool."

  Chenle giggled at that. Jisung held up a finger to his lips and tried the door. Locked. He started rifling around his pockets for a key, but was interrupted by the door opening on its own accord.

  Well, not by its own accord, exactly, because there was a pretty boy with dark brown hair and a body type that made him look taller than he was standing in the doorway, a disapproving expression on his sharp features. "Jisung, where have you been." It doesn't sound like a question.

  "Ah, Jaemin. Sorry."

  The boy, Jaemin, stepped aside to allow Jisung to enter, closely followed by an invisible Chenle. Jisung cautiously closed the door behind him.

  "I'm sick of you going missing, kid! You're really gonna get yourself expelled."

  "Sorry," Jisung repeated sheepishly. "I was busy."

  "Whatever," Jaemin said with a shrug, walking into a cramped common room that Chenle remembered seeing his first time at St. Marjorie's. "I don't believe you. But whatever."

  "I hope you didn't worry too much about me," Jisung mumbled as he opened the door to the left of the entrance, into the stairwell. Chenle went in front of him, tapping his nose quickly to inform him of where he was. Jisung's hands awkwardly bumped into him and Chenle stifled his laughter.

  Jisung walked up the stairs to the second floor and creaked open the door into a narrow hallway. It was a lot more pleasant without the chilling presence of a ghost, but it was still cramped and barren and filled Chenle with a sense of hopelessness. He hoped that the students there didn't feel the same.

  Jisung placed a tentative hand on the first doorknob on the left. "Mark rooms with Jaemin, and he's downstairs now. Which is good for us." He whispered it so lightly, but it was nearly deafening in the delicate atmosphere. Chenle nodded, afraid to speak, forgetting Jisung couldn't see him. Jisung still opened the door.

  The lights were off, leaving the room only illuminated by a lamp on a desk on the far side of the room, with a slumped silhouette in front of it. Chenle closed the door gently and stood near the entrance.

  Jisung hardly made a noise as he padded over to the desk and placed a hand on the figure's shoulder. "Mark."

  Mark turned, and Chenle nearly gasped at his profile. He looked empty, deep dark circles weighing him down even more in lighting. "Jisung… where did you go?"

  "I've been… I've been at Huang's."

  "Was it with that kid you've been talking about? Chenle?" Mark said, with something akin to a smile pulling at his lips.

  "How do you know his name?"

  "I met him at the hospital. He looks just like the boy you described."

  Jisung smiled lightly. "Yes. With Chenle."

  "Why'd you come back, then? I know you've never liked it here."

  "To see you," Jisung said gently, moving to sit on Mark's bed next to the desk. Chenle took a couple experimental steps forward.

  "If you came just to comfort me, thank you, but I'm not really in the mood." Mark laughed without any humor behind it.

  "No, actually, it's about… Johnny. He's still here."

  Mark sighed so heavily that Chenle almost believed he was holding every breath he'd ever taken. "I know. I know. Those Huang kids are trying to get rid of him, yeah?"

  "Yeah. Actually," Jisung said, looking around as if he was hoping to meet Chenle's eyes. Chenle quickly opened his bag and tried not to make too many clinking noises before he found the bright orange liquid to reverse the invisibility potion. He poured it over himself carelessly and Jisung made delicate eye contact.

  "Sorry for not… saying anything. I didn't want to scare you," Chenle muttered, running a hand through his potion-greased hair. 

  "Hi," Mark said simply. 

  Jisung cleared his throat and flinched at the volume. "Chenle and the others have found out a plan to put Johnny at rest."

  "And it involves me?" Mark guessed.

  Chenle nodded, shifting nervously from foot to foot. Mark looked so indifferent and tired. Chenle hadn't ever seen anyone look so low, even when Jisung's lifeless body spent days in his dorm room. "But I think it'll also help you," Chenle said. "Johnny's dying wish was just to help you."

  "With what?" Mark said bitterly. "The fact that I can't sleep because I feel so guilty? The fact that my own religion hates me, and my own parents would disown me if they knew that I'm-"

  Mark stopped himself and ran a hand through his black hair. "That I'm… Ugh. That I'm gay. I'm gay."

  There are tears in his eyes and Chenle doesn't know what to do.

  Jisung nods. "That's… exactly what they intend to help with, actually."

  "How?" Mark asked desperately, turning back to put his elbows on the desk and hands on his forehead. "I know God made me this way, but no one else thinks so."

  "Well," Chenle started slowly, "if God really is that important to you, does what other people think matter?"

  "Catholicism is kind of all based on what other people think," he grumbled in response.

  Chenle sat beside Jisung on Mark's bed and stared at his own shoes for a few seconds. "Well, I haven't met God. I have met Lucifer, though, and he told me… that God loves me. And I'm a witch. And I'm gay. And I haven't been to church in years," he explained. "I'm not sure how God thinks, of course. Because supposedly he didn't love Johnny, but I suspect it has something to do with the amount of hatred he harboured.

  "It's not as simple as they say it is, Mark. And I hope you let us show you."

  "And save the school from certain death," Jisung added, in an attempt to lighten the mood. Mark cracked a real smile.

  "Okay," Mark said. "I'll go with you."

  "Seriously?" Chenle asked. He couldn't believe his monologue worked.

  "Yeah," Mark said, standing up to go pull on his shoes. "The only thing I have to lose is a religion that never accepted me, right?"

  Chenle beamed at him.

  "I still have to come back, though," Mark added, opening the door. "I have to graduate."

  "Fair enough," Chenle acknowledged.

  Jisung went in front down the staircase and out into the common room. "Park Jisung!" Jaemin began. "Where are you going? And Mark! And who is  _ that?" _

__ "Bye, Nana! I'll be back," Mark yelled, unbothered, and gave Jaemin a small wave before the three of them crept out the front door and back towards the sidewalk.

  "I'm not going to be a human sacrifice or something, am I?" Mark asked as they crossed the street.

  "Course not," Chenle answered. "Hyuck would sacrifice  _ me _ if I did that."

  Mark nodded as if he was reassured by the statement.

  Chenle told them all to wait while he rushed up to fetch the others from the dorm. Renjun immediately took off to find Ten, apparently finally shaking the idea that he could do everything by himself, and Jeno moved to sit on the edge of the courtyard and drink the remnants of his milkshake with indifference.

  There was a large space between Donghyuck and Mark, and both seemed hesitant to close it at all.

  "You came," Donghyuck said.

  Mark shrugged. "Yeah, I did."

  "Didn't really expect you, Jesus boy," Donghyuck teased, but there wasn't a lot of joking behind his words, almost as if he was trying to pour some deeper emotion into the empty words.

  Mark laughed breathily. "I didn't really expect to show up either." He ran his hands up and down his thighs anxiously.

  Donghyuck opened his mouth before he shut it again, and then repeated the motion. Chenle thought he looked like a fish out of water, except Huang's  _ is  _ the water. The only thing different was Mark.  _ Huh _ .

  "What's going on?" Ten asked, hurrying over to where they were standing, but he stopped as soon as his eyes graced Mark.

  He stepped forward slowly before pulling Mark into a hug.

  "Who… are you?" Mark asked.

  "My name's Ten."

  Mark sucked in a sharp breath before reciprocating the hug.

  "Don't hate me," Ten muttered.

  "Never."

  "We have to go," Renjun said loudly from the center of the courtyard. "The faster we can pull this off, the better."

  Ten let go of Mark and they all made their way to stand safe distances away from the crystal. Chenle held Jisung's hand in his own tightly and stood in the grass, watching as Renjun traced shapes onto the pavement. Mark stood in front of the crystal, Donghyuck at his side with an unreadable expression on his face. Renjun looked up at him and Chenle couldn't see his face, but whatever it was made Donghyuck shake his head and step closer to Mark. 

  "Are we gonna be in danger?" Jisung asked.

  "Course not," Chenle answered, turning to smile at him. "And I'll protect you if there is!"

  Jisung nodded. "Okay."

  Chenle squeezed his hand and turned back towards the crystal.

  "I'm going to start now," Renjun announced. "Everyone be on your toes."

  He planted his feet and leaned into the white rock, mouthing chants and Chenle braced himself against the building wind. Jisung huddled closer to him. Chenle was about to fall over against the force before it exploded outward and disappated, leaving Renjun floating in the air above the courtyard and Mark only held up by Donghyuck's arm around his waist.

  Johnny's figure standing in front of the crystal was still, but both Ten and Renjun had their hands at their sides. His shoulders were tense with realization. "Mark?"

  Mark stumbled forward and Donghyuck let him go. He all but fell into Johnny, who caught him in long arms with feigned solidity. "I missed you," Mark struggled out.

  Johnny smiled fondly. "I missed you, too."

  Mark separated enough to look up at his face. "Donghyuck says… that you wanted to help me."

  There's a softness in Johnny's eyes that Chenle can't place. He saw something similar when Johnny spoke with Ten all those weeks ago. "Yeah, kiddo. But I'm not sure if I can."

  Mark choked on his next words. "You always helped me. Always."

  "I don't think that's true."

  Mark shook his head feverently. "Even when you died, I learned that… that people who don't accept you aren't worth my time. People who don't accept  _ me.  _ And they all helped." He gestured around the courtyard.

  "I'm glad," Johnny responded. 

  "Are you going to leave?"

  Johnny's face was hard to read. "I… I do think so. It's what all of them have been trying to get me to do."

  "Actually," Donghyuck interrupted, voice broken, "we're cool with ghosts. But murdering to stay one is pretty not cool."

  Johnny's face morphed into an expression of remorse. "I'm sorry for all I did to you."

  Ten shook his head. "Forever the gentleman."

  "Okay, but why the sudden change of heart?" Jeno piped up, still poised to defend himself. "This is suspicious."

  Johnny sighed weightily. "I did the opposite of what I wanted to do. Of what I should have done. It wasn't built to last."

  Mark stepped back. "I'm gonna see you again someday, right?"

  "Of course," Johnny responded. "If you can find a way to get me out of here in the first place." His tone was so much lighter than Chenle had ever heard. He was resigned. 

  "Yeah, we never did find out what to do about the witch thing…" Jeno said.

  "Chenle can perform an exorcism," Jisung suggested.

  Chenle gaped at him. "Well, I mean… I guess I can? But Donghyuck… and everyone else here will probably be hurt. Is it okay?"

  Donghyuck shrugged. "I've shown I can bring them back."

  "A migraine isn't that big of a deal," Jeno agreed.

  Chenle walked onto the courtyard. "I need a Bible, though."

  "I can't summon those," Donghyuck huffed.

  "Does Mark have one in his pocket or something?" Jeno asked.

  Mark recoiled. "Who do you think I am?"

  Renjun sighed before floating back over to the dorm tower. He returned with a large unlabeled book in his hands and handed it to Chenle.

  "Have you been keeping that in our dorm room?" Donghyuck asked, apalled.

  "It didn't kill you, did it?" Renjun argued, hands on his hips.

  Chenle carefully sat the book on the ground, and Mark stepped back away from Johnny just to be replaced with Ten. He smiled up at Johnny. "Hi."

  Johnny smiled back. "Hi."

  Ten took Johnny's hands in his own. "Will you come talk to me if I summon you?"

  "Always."

  Ten nodded and smiled wider, but Chenle didn't miss the shining in his eyes. He knelt in front of the Bible and placed both of his hands on it. "Can I start?"

  He waited for Johnny to nod before he placed his forehead on the leather cover.

  "Kyrie Eleison. God, our Lord, King of ages, all-powerful and all-mighty, and Lucifer, the righteous hand in the dark of night. We beseech you to banish and drive out the spirits who reside here. I do not fear evil because you are with me. Lord Our God and Lucifer, whoever can be beseeched to aid us in these times, we ask you through this prayer of our most blessed Mother of God, our saints, and the dead that Lucifer presides over. Please place these spirits at rest."

  The quiet pressed down on him painfully and made his ears hurt. Chenle hesistated - he wasn't sure if he wanted it all to be over, if he wanted to utter the last word. This was better for St. Marjorie's. Better for Huang's. Better for Johnny. So why did it leave such a bittersweet taste in the back of his throat when he uttered the final word?

  "Amen."

  Chenle blinked at the ground below him a few times before he raised his head. Ten was standing in front of an empty space. Donghyuck was unconscious in Mark's arms, while Jeno and Renjun were pressing against their temples in apparent discomfort.

  "...we did it," Chenle struggled out.

  There was no loud noise, no trumpets, just the cicadas and the darkness that surrounded them all. Ten's eyes were full of tears as he turned around. "It's over."

  "What now?" Jeno asked, placing his hand against Donghyuck's forehead.

  Chenle stood and held the Bible gingerly in his hands. He tucked it into his messenger bag along with his potions, and it felt like acceptance. Chenle held Jisung's hand tightly.

  "I have class tomorrow," is all Chenle said.

  Jeno hoisted Donghyuck up and walked back towards the dorm with his limp body in his arms. Chenle couldn't help but feel guilty. Mark approached him slowly, tugging at his hands. "Chenle, man, I should be heading back."

  Chenle nodded. "Okay."

  "I'll see you guys again, right?" he asked, glancing to where Donghyuck had disappeared into the dorm building.

  "Of course," Chenle said with a small smile. "If you aren't going home this weekend, we'd love to have you. Especially Hyuck."

  Mark nodded and walked off towards the road again.

  Renjun, levitating millimeters above the ground, made his way to Chenle. He opened his mouth to speak and closed it again, thoughtful. "Don't feel bad. You did well. We did the right thing."

  Chenle gave him a soft smile.

  Jisung turned to him as Renjun left and pulled Chenle closer, enveloping him in a hug and placing his chin on the top of Chenle's head. "It's okay now, right?" he asked.

  Chenle sighed into his chest. "Yes. I think so. I feel bad… for Ten."

  "I don't know him, but I can tell he's going to be okay. He understands."

  Jisung was warm and solid, and Chenle was overwhelmed with the knowledge that he was a ghost, too, not that long ago. He was so grateful to have him with him, alive, in his arms. The boy he loved was murdered and was still with him. Johnny and Ten couldn't have that. It was unfair.

  "Let's go back in."

  Chenle nodded and walked with Jisung back into the dorm room. Chenle tried to blink himself to sleep, clinging to Jisung, scared to let him go. Scared that he'd lose him. Jisung carded a bony hand through Chenle's bleached hair and he hiccuped as tears escaped his eyes.

  "Lele, are you okay?"

  Chenle let out a shaky breath into the silence of the room. "I just love you."

  Jisung smiled, letting out the tell-tale exhale from his nose. "I love you, too."

  His heart ricocheted around his chest and there was no time to think about the exact connotations. Because he meant he  _ loves _ Jisung. And Jisung was murdered by Johnny, so he at least likes boys. (Chenle feels even more guilty for Jisung dying being convenient for him.) And Jisung is burying his face into Chenle's hair and letting his breathing go steady in the darkness of the dorm room, whatever that means. 

  It's over, and the world is quiet.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well? One more chapter to go. I can't believe it's almost over! I appreciate all your comments and kudos, so please keep them up!


	10. What Happens Now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is it, everyone! I hope you had a good time on this journey with me. Enjoy~

  "Is the test hard?" Jisung asked.

  Jeno placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's less like an exam and more like a blood test. He's gonna just see if you can, theoretically, do magic or not."

  "And if I can't?" Jisung worried, pulling at his own long fingers.

  Renjun shrugged. "Then you make academy history for being the first person ever to fail the alchemy portion."

  "Hey, are you saying alchemy is easy?" Chenle complained, hanging on Jisung's shoulders awkwardly due to his taller height.

  "Never," Renjun said. "It's like rocket science. Everyone is physically capable, but not everyone can."

  "Always so wise," Donghyuck teased.

  Renjun sighed and smiled at Jisung. "You'll be fine, kid."

  "Let's get it," Jeno offered and Jisung nodded. Chenle hugged him one last time before he disappeared into Kun's office.

  "He better make it in," he whispered.

  "He will," Donghyuck said certainly.

  Chenle didn't even know he was taking the test when it happened - he thought he was just having a conversation with Kun about his life and his abilities, but soon he had demonstrated them and was admitted. Jisung wasn't so lucky. He was anxious as a principle and now went in with that pressure on his shoulders - his only bonus was that he didn't seem scared of Kun. And that he definitely wasn't going to fail. Chenle was sure of it.

  "How long is this gonna take?" Donghyuck asked, stomping around the landing in apparent impatience.

  "Depends how good he is," Renjun answered.

  "I'm gonna wait here," Chenle said resolutely. He had to be there when Jisung was, inevitably, admitted, and see the joy on his face. Jisung's smile had grown to be one of his favorite things on Earth, in Hell, in any of the places he'd been to and out of all of the things he'd ever seen.  _ Lucifer,  _ did Chenle love Jisung. He just hadn't found out a good way to approach that yet.

  "Then I guess we're all staying," Jeno agreed, looking around at the others. They all nodded. Donghyuck, despite also agreeing, huffed and sat cross-legged on the ground in one hefty motion.

  It didn't take more than ten minutes.

 Jisung slowly creaked the door open and stepped out to join them, not meeting anyone's eyes. "Jisung?" Chenle grabbed onto his hands. What if he was wrong? What if Jisung didn't make it in?

  Jisung looked up blankly before the facade cracked and he beamed. "I did it."

  Chenle breathed out a laugh of surprise. "You did it!" He jumped up and down a few times before leaping onto Jisung. "You did it! How'd you do it?" 

  "If it was the alchemy thing, I called it," Renjun chimed in.

  "And if my role as healer gets taken, I will fight you," Jeno added. Donghyuck voiced his agreement.

  "No, I…" Jisung started. "I. Possessed him. Kind of."

  Chenle separated to look at his shiny dark eyes. "You  _ what?  _ Sungie, that's so cool! How? What happened?"

  Jisung started down the stairs to leave the building. "I don't know, he asked about how I possessed my own body when I was a ghost, and then asked if I could do the same thing to living people. And then I was like, 'Well, I'm not sure', but he asked me to do it. And I just did."

  Chenle held onto his bicep giddily. "This is amazing! So, you're admitted! You get to stay!"

  Jisung nodded, grinning. Chenle's heart was warm and squishy inside his chest, and he was about to explode like a water balloon full of emotions and pride. He could have said a million words to Jisung in a gay panic-induced word vomit, but he didn't. Still, that just left the feelings to fester in their urgency and he was bouncing up and down from the way they demanded Jisung's immediate attention. Every twinkle of his small dark eyes sent off another train of thoughts. He hadn't ever felt this overwhelmed, and he chalked it up to the idea that Jisung wasn't leaving. He was staying at the academy with him, and Chenle could have him, if and only if Jisung liked him back. The risk didn't seem that great, at first thought, but there was always a possibility of rejection. But it was Jisung. He wasn't afraid.

  "Uh, Lele?"

  "Huh?"

  "Are you okay?"

  "Yeah, why do you ask?" Chenle blinked back at Jisung, face warm.

  "You stared at me the whole way here," Jisung said cheekily.

_ Yeah, because you're the most beautiful boy on the whole planet.  _ "Ah, getting real bold there, Jisung Pwark."  _ That is not what I meant to say. _

__ Jisung giggled. They were, indeed, back in the dorm room, and Chenle had hardly even noticed. He let go of Jisung's arm and then had no clue what to do with his hands. Jisung looked at him with his eyebrows furrowed and Chenle smiled to get him off his back. It worked.

  He had to tell him. It was Saturday, so there was no class to distract him, just Jisung and Jisung and Jisung. And all the others, of course, but Chenle had tunnel vision. He stress-ate too much McDonald's for dinner that night and then leaned against Jisung's side the whole walk back to the dorm room. "Is something bothering you, Lele?"

  "Yeah."

  Jisung stopped and turned to him, letting the others walk ahead of them a bit. Jeno turned around and raised his eyebrows at Chenle, but he waved him off and turned back to Jisung. "Can we talk?"  _ I guess I'm doing this now. _

__ Jisung nodded and took Chenle's hand in his own, but it felt different. It was probably just because Chenle was nervous. Instead of joining everyone back to Huang's, they veered into the park and began to walk around the path again. Chenle busied himself with Jisung's knuckles and looking at the grass. "Uh, Lele? Is it something bad?"

  Jisung looked about as nervous as Chenle felt. He was worrying him by holding off, Chenle realized. "No! No," Chenle assured him. "It's not. I just."

  He took in a deep breath and looked at Jisung. Chenle stopped walking and he startled, turning to him with eyes wide. "I like you." Chenle held his breath in his cheeks, waiting for a response.

  "Huh?"

  Chenle squinted. "What do you mean 'huh'? I like you. It's not a big deal if you don't like me back, but…"

  Jisung laughed nervously. "I, uh, no, I do like you, Lele. I just thought... we've already done this."

  "What do you mean?"

  Jisung took Chenle's other hand and swung his arms from side to side. "That night you said… you know. And I said it back. I thought you meant it then…"

  Chenle gaped at him. "No! I did mean it. I just thought that you thought I didn't and then you didn't mean it when you said it back. Does that make sense?"

  Jisung laughed. "It does make sense. But I did mean it. What I said."

  "Mean what?" Chenle teased.

  Jisung looked at him, all sparkles and white teeth and cheekbones. "I meant that… I love you."

  Chenle beamed and tackled him into a hug as well as he could. "I love you too, Sungie!"

  Jisung giggled and pressed a gentle kiss against his forehead, making Chenle smile even harder. He was convinced his face was about to break in half. "That's good." Chenle separated and kissed Jisung's left cheek forcefully. Jisung's arms were wrapped tight around his waist and it was the warmest he'd ever been.

  "I've never had a boyfriend before," Jisung admitted, nose brushing against Chenle's.

  "Hmm. Girlfriend?"

  "Gross, no!"

  Chenle broke into uncontrollable giggles. "It's okay, I haven't, either. We'll do it together."

  "That sounds nice."

  They continued their walk down the path, hands clasped tightly together. "How long have you liked me?" Chenle asked, boldly.

  "You first," Jisung demanded.

  "Probably since I first met you."

  Jisung smiled. "Me, too."

  Chenle elbowed him. "Because I fell, like an angel from heaven?"

  "You fell for  _ me _ ," Jisung retorted. 

  Chenle barked out in sudden laughter. "I jumped, for the record."

  Jisung laughed. "You still fell."

  "It's the best decision I ever made," Chenle swooned, lying his head on Jisung's shoulder. He whined and shrugged him off.

  "Worst boyfriend ever already," he grumbled.

  "Hey, you're one to talk," Jisung retorted.

  Chenle smacked his arm and Jisung pulled away in mock pain, letting go of his hand and smacking him back. "Park Jisung, I swear-"

  In a high voice, Jisung copied, "Zhong Chenle, I swear-"

  Chenle lunged for him and Jisung sprinted away, but, luckily for Chenle, what he lacked in legs he made up in enthusiasm. He chased him to the end of the path and bounded in front of him to squish his (very squishy) face in his palms. "Caught you!" he cheered. Jisung laughed.

  Chenle loosened his hold on Jisung's face to just cup it softly in his hands, and Jisung's hands moved to worry at the sleeves of Chenle's t-shirt. Chenle's first thought was that  _ it's like the movies.  _ And then, that Jisung was basically crossing his eyes to look at him and it was simultaneously adorable and ridiculous.

  "Can I kiss you?" Chenle asked, mostly without even thinking it first.

  "If you want to."

  Chenle snorted. "Why would I ask you if I didn't want to?"

  Jisung turned red and Chenle could hear the stammering before it came. "I don't know! Sometimes you do weird things."

  Chenle shook his head. "I'm gonna kiss you now."

  Jisung nodded, determined. "Do it."

  Chenle laughed at his once more before moving Jisung's face down to meet his own. He pressed his own lips against Jisung's, unmoving and definitely awkward, but his heart did uncontrollable leaps in his chest to the point he almost felt nauseous. And then he thought. And laughed.

  "Why are you laughing?" Jisung pouted, but he was laughing, too.

  "I just remembered that you used to be dead. I'm kissing a corpse."

  " _ Former  _ corpse! And you died once, too," he pointed out.

  "Zombie boyfriends," Chenle suggested with another giggle.

  Jisung pressed his lips against Chenle's again, just a ghost of contact before he laughed again. "You're cute," Chenle let himself say.

  "No, you," Jisung returned.

  Chenle scrunched his nose in frustration. "No. You. You're cute."

  Jisung shoved his fingers in his ears. "La la la, I can't  _ hear  _ you-"

  "Jisung!"

 

»»---------------------►

 

  Chenle opened the door to their dorm and stares at the flat blackness that greeted him. "Do you think it worked?"

  "Renjun just walked through that portal about thirty seconds ago, so I sure hope so," Jeno returned.

  Chenle sucked in a breath and stepped through, into the strange blanket of nothing, and fell. But soon, his feet touched solid, medium colored hardwood ground.

  The room was large and open, rectangular windows spanning the far wall and four beds arranged in a circle (all different colors - red, yellow, blue, green) with a red patterned rug in the center. Chenle's glass potion cabinet and lizard aquarium seem to have been revamped, all new and shiny and larger than he remembered. He stepped out of the way and towards his designated part of the room with the green comforter.

  It was a new housing solution, Kun had explained. Instead of staying in the actual dorm tours, everyone was being relocated to these cool Chinese lofts - a decision only partially influenced by Jisung arriving and having effectively five people in Chenle's three person dorm at all times. Renjun still had his own apartment, of course, but now Jisung had an official place to be.

  Donghyuck fell through the door next, soon followed by Jeno and Jisung. Donghyuck rushed towards the yellow sector of the room, closer to the windows, and squeaked in excitement as he ran a hand along his bookshelf of scrolls and enchantments. "This is amazing!"

  Jisung's space, across from Chenle's, was empty, save for a Bible on the side table and Jisung himself on the blue blankets. Chenle smiled at him, and he returned it. Right now it was weird, but it would be home.

  There came one, two, three knocks on the window. Jeno opened it curiously and Renjun shoved himself through. "Renjun, we are forty stories up."

  Renjun shrugged. "I'm not going to fall."

  "I'll knock you out of the air myself," Donghyuck retorted. Meanwhile, Chenle watched Jisung weigh the Bible in his hands before his eyes went blank and the book began to flop awkwardly around the comforter. It rolled off the bed before Jisung glanced around again to realize the room had gone silent.

  "We've never seen you do that before!" Donghyuck enthused, rushing over to pick up the Bible before realizing what it was and dropping it like it burned. Chenle laughed.

  "That was so cool, Sungie!" Chenle agreed.

  "Did you just possess a  _ Bible?" _ Renjun asked, clearly impressed.

  Jisung nodded sheepishly, rubbing at the back of his neck.

  "Can you possess a person?" Jeno wondered.

  Jisung shrugged. "I mean, I've never tried it…"

  "Possess Renjun," Donghyuck said, pointing at the shorter boy.

  "What?" Renjun balked.

  Jisung shrugged again. "If you let me, I probably could."

  Renjun was silent for a few seconds. "Fine. But only for science."

  Jisung stood awkwardly, slowly, to put a hand on Renjun's forearm. The light left his eyes and Renjun's stature seemed to change.

  "It's weird to be this short," Renjun said, in a voice that both was and wasn't his. It was almost as if it was blended with Jisung's in some twisted, echoing sound.

  Jeno, Donghyuck, and Chenle all howled with laughter. "Say… say aliens aren't real!" Jeno encouraged.

  "Aliens aren't-"

  Jisung's own body stumbled back as Renjun pushed him away. "You all suck," Renjun hissed, back to himself again.

  "That was the best thing I've ever seen!" Chenle gushed, rushing over to hug Jisung quickly. "You're gonna get so good at that!"

  "I don't wanna use it for bad stuff though. And it kinda seems fundamentally evil," he worried.

  "Oh, come on," Jeno said. "Look at Ten! He's a dark witch. Literally raises dead people. Spends most of his time in a cemetery. And  _ he's  _ a good guy."

  Jisung smiled. "I guess you're right."

  Chenle kissed him wetly on the cheek before traipsing back towards his side of the room.

 

»»---------------------►

 

  "How's Hell?"

  Johnny stretched his phantom limbs. "Not so bad, especially considering the expectations I had. There's this boy Hendery who says he knows you."

  "Tell him I said hi! He's so hard to summon these days."

  "Ten!" Chenle called.

  Chenle still hated the cemetery. It was dark and gloomy, just like every horror movie ever had depicted, covered in moss and illegible tombstones. Despite all that, Ten was sitting and talking to Johnny between the rows, and it warmed something in his chest.

  "Oh, hey, kiddo!"

  There was a sound of feet hitting grass and Chenle turned to a very startled Mark beside him. "Oh, you made it."

  Mark looked around, clearly terrified until his eyes landed on Johnny.

  "Mark!"

  Mark carefully made his way towards the ghost and Chenle followed. "This place is really creepy."

  "That's the point," Ten answered with a wink.

  Mark sat down beside Johnny and smiled at him. "How have you been?"

  Johnny nodded and grinned. "Yeah, Hell for us is actually not that bad. Lucifer said there's a bunch of different circles for different levels of evil, but as a former ghost I guess I'm one of his right-hand men or something. Despite all the murder."

  "That's great!" Chenle cheered, flopping down across from Mark. "I've been there before. It's pretty nice."

  "Is it not… burning? And hot?" Mark asked.

  "It's warm," Johnny lamented, "but it's not unpleasant. It's better than Seoul in the summer."

  "Nothing could be worse than Seoul in the summer," Ten scoffed.

  "Exactly. It's not anything to be afraid of." Johnny rested his hand on Mark's shoulder. "I'm still sorry for stabbing you."

  "It's okay. I got a boyfriend out of it."

  Chenle flinched. "You  _ what?" _

__ Mark's face went blank, round eyes wide with realization. "Oh. I wasn't supposed to tell you."

  "Who is it?" Johnny asked, bouncing up and down.

  "Oh, that's a stupid question," Ten said with a wave of his hand. "If it  _ isn't  _ Donghyuck, I will hex you all."

  "N-no, it's… not," Mark stuttered out. Chenle wasn't a master of body language, but that was a lie.

  "Come on, kid," Johnny urged, nudging him with his elbow. "Spill."

  Mark sighed. "It is Hyuck."

  "Obviously," Chenle said, leaning back on his hands.

  "We've been dating for… a month."

  "A  _ month?"  _ Chenle jumped to his feet and put his hands on his head. "This is unbelievable! You didn't tell anyone?"

  Mark shook his head. "Hyuck said that Renjun and Jeno would never let him hear the end of it if they knew."

  "That's absolutely true," Chenle proclaimed. "But now they're gonna think it's even funnier that you tried to hide it."

  Mark groaned. "Ah! This is the worst!"

  Chenle sat back down next to Ten with a laugh. "You did this to yourself. Deal with the consequences." 

  "Cold," Ten complimented.

  "I'm glad I could help," Johnny said with a fond smile.

  "Don't be. Donghyuck is the worst. I hate him," Mark huffed, crossing his arms.

__ "That's Renjun's line," Chenle scolded.

  "And also not true," Ten sang.

  "Whatever."

 

»»---------------------►

 

  "You can do this, Sungie."

  Jisung breathed out tensely. "What if this is the wrong house? Are we sure? Will they even  _ want  _ to see me?"

  His 'wrong house' worry may have been valid, honestly. Every single house in the suburb looked almost identical, and Jisung said he didn't remember exactly which one was his, even after Chenle looked it up and found pictures of his family in front of that exact house. Probably. It was the only one painted that exact shade of ocean blue.

  "Jisung," Chenle said firmly, grabbing onto both of his shoulders. "They're your parents. And you're their dead son. If they don't want to see you, they're crazy, and we'll just go back to the academy."

  "I'm still nervous."

  "But you still should do most of the talking."

  "Do you mind if I say that you're my boyfriend?"

  "If you think she'll be okay with it."

  "She will," Jisung assured him. "I can do this."

  His hand hesitated above the door.

  "Do you want me to knock?" Chenle whispered.

  Jisung nodded.

_ Knock. Knock. Knock. _

  "Coming!" came a sweet voice from inside the house. Jisung immediately tensed up and Chenle squeezed his hand tightly.

  The door opened, and the woman in the door frame was unmistakable.

  She was short, but with relatively long limbs and eyes just like Jisung's, and a small, hesitant smile on her face. Her eyes settled on Jisung. "H-hello?"

  "Umm," Jisung started. "Hi."

  "Can I help you?"

  Jisung swallowed hard. "Uh, no. Yes. Umm. It's me, Mom. Jisung."

  The woman shook her head bitterly. "Listen, kid, it's not funny. He's dead. He's-" she hiccuped.

  "Excuse me, Mrs. Park," Chenle started, sensing the panic in Jisung's eyes. "I know it sounds crazy, but he's telling the truth."

  Her face fell before she teared up. "You look just like him," the woman mused. "Is it really you? Sungie?"

  Jisung nodded. "I can explain everything, I just-"

  The woman tugged him into a tight hug, and Jisung let his arms fall around her. "You have a  _ lot  _ of explaining to do, Sungie, I… I can't believe it."

  Chenle teetered back and forth on his feet, watching. It was heart-warming, but he was still just standing there. The woman, Jisung's mom, separated. "And who is this young man?"

  "My name is Zhong Chenle." He bowed deeply.

  "He's my boyfriend, and he helped me get back… to see you," Jisung explained.

  The woman smiled. "Thank you, then, Chenle."

  "It's no trouble at all, ma'am."

  She beckoned all of them inside to the immaculate house. "Where's Dad?"

  She sighed heavily. "He was only sticking around for you, so when you… died, he just left."

  Jisung led Chenle to sit down in the living room, a blue, gray, and white upper middle-class dream of a space. "Oh. I'm sorry, Mom."

  "It's better this way," she assured him, sitting down. "And, I guess you never died? But I saw your body, Sungie, I-"

  "I did," Jisung said nervously. "But… it's kind of complicated."

  Chenle listened as he explained the story, despite the fact that he had heard it a few times before. He was even involved in a sizable portion of it. The way Jisung explained it was just nice.

  "Thank you so much, Chenle," Mrs. Park said, wiping away heavy tears. "For bringing my Jisung back to me."

  "He's important to me, too, ma'am. It's the least I could do."

  Mrs. Park stood to place a hand on Jisung's shoulder. "He's a good one."

  Jisung's face turned a concerning shade of crimson.

 

»»---------------------►

 

  The summer was sticky, as if a suffocating layer of bubbling marshmallow covered all of eastern Asia. It really was worse than Hell. Whether he was in Seoul at Huang's or in his Shanghai dorm room, it was intolerable, just in different languages. Chenle complained of this while sprawled out on his bed.

  "Seriously," Donghyuck agreed. "You'd think that, as witches, weather would be the least of our problems."

  "Muggles and their stupid cars," Jeno grumbled. "Teleportation has no carbon emissions and causes no global warming. I blame this on them."

  Jisung snorted. "Muggles."

  "Don't talk about Donghyuck like that," Renjun fake-scolded.

  Chenle couldn't see him with how he was staring at the ceiling, but he could feel Donghyuck's scowl from across the room. "I'll have you know that I literally have more souls than all of you combined and I will vanquish you."

  "Do it, you won't," Jisung dared.

  Donghyuck didn't even budge.

  "Is there anything to do today?" Jeno asked, rolling onto the floor. "I'm super bored."

  "I have to go fail my Latin exam," Jisung lamented. 

  "Latin one?" Donghyuck asked.

  "Uh-huh."

  "Isn't Chenle a Latin genius?" Jeno asked. "Or something like that."

  "Oh, Hell no," Chenle snorted. "I'm very good at Latin one."

  "Take it for me?" Jisung joked.

  An idea pricked at Chenle's brain. "Are you serious? Because I can." He sat up to look at Jisung.

  "...I feel like you've already made up your mind," Jisung said cautiously.

  "Are you thinking what I think you're thinking?" Renjun worried aloud. "Because I swear to Lucifer-"

  "This is the best idea ever," Donghyuck interjected.

  "Body swap potion," Chenle said, grinning.

  "Body swap potion," Donghyuck agreed. 

  "I can just take the test," Jisung said, hesitating.

  "Ah, come on, Sungie! What kind of boyfriend would I be if I let you fail?"

  "One with academic integrity?"

  "Vetoed," Jeno said, standing up. "This sounds fun."

  Renjun rolled his eyes. "I always get roped along for your garbage."

  "No one asked you to come," Donghyuck said.

  "Then I'll just tip Kun off about your plan-"

  "I cordially invite you," Chenle interrupted.

  Jisung hung his head and Chenle took the opportunity to kiss his hair lovingly. "You wanted to go here! This is how it is."

  Jisung smiled up at him. "I wouldn't trade it for the world."

  "Cheesy. You better not say any of that stuff with my mouth."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow. I guess it's really over. I have a bunch of ideas, so I hope you guys will stick around to read the rest of my pieces! markhyuck and chensung are my main focuses right now, but i would absolutely love to know what you guys are interested in reading. until then, bye bye!
> 
> twt: https://twitter.com/byeorwassupman  
> cc: https://curiouscat.me/chuju

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading!
> 
> twitter: @ByeOrWassupMan  
> curious cat: https://curiouscat.me/chuju


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